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AMWuS J.W'z st jdiJ. by T. GuLdl k KDarus. 



THE 

LIFE 

OF 

THE RIGHT REVEREND FATHER IN GOD, 

JEREMY TAYLOR, D.D. 

CHAPLAIN IN ORDINARY TO 

&*NG CHARLES THE FIRST, 

AND LORD BISHOP OF 

DOWN, CONNOR, AND DROMORE* 



\y The Rev. HENRY KAYE BONNEY, M.A. 

of Christ's college, Cambridge; 
ilebendary of lincoln ; rector of king s-cliffe, 
in the county of northampton, 

&C. &C. 



LONDON: 

PRINTED FOR T. CADELL AND W. DAVIES* 
IN THE STRAND* 

1815. 



TO 

THE RIGHT HONOURABLE 

JOHN FANE, 
EARL OF WESTMORLAND, 

AND BARON BURGHERSH, 

LORD KEEPER OF THE PRIVY SEAL, 

) KNIGHT OF THE MOST NOBLE ORDER OF THE GARTER. 

1 AND ONE OF HIS MAJESTY^ MOST HONOURABLE 
PRIVY COUNCIL. 

s 

My Lord, 

jTN dedicating this Work to Your Lord- 
. ship, I am following the example of 
the illustrious character which I have 
here attempted to delineate. Most of 
Bishop Taylor's Writings are introduced 
by " the still small voice of gratitude," 
A 3 



vi 



DEDICATION. 



< 



expressed in an address to some noble 
and munificent friend. I am thankful / 
that divine Providence has enabled me \ 
to follow such steps, though at an humble V 
distance, and to request Your Lordship, ' 
will accept this my first endeavour, as 
an instance of the sincerity, with which, 
My Lord, I subscribe myself, 

Your Lordship's 
Most obliged 

And grateful Servant, r 

H. K. BONNEl 

K C ) 

4 



< 



PREFACE. 



MONG the various objects which engage 



the notice of mankind, there is none 
more worthy of contemplation than the hu- 
man character adorned with the treasures of 
intellectual improvement and carried to its 
utmost perfection. In the deveiopement of 
such a subject the mind is instructed and the 
heart improved; while veneration and love 
insensibly excite a noble and generous emu- 
lation. 

If the character of the person, whose life is 
here imperfectly recorded, were not fully 
commensurate with that laid down, yet was 
he far advanced in the scale of intelligent and 
moral beings: and as such, it is presumed, 
will ever attract attention. 

Independent of his rank amongst divines, 
Taylor is to be regarded as holding a distin- 




viii 



PREFACE. 



guished place in the republic of letters and 
walk of genius. Few persons have possessed 
in their full extent qualifications more adapted 
to the description of a true poet, than this 
great man. 

" Ingenium cui sit, cui mens divinior, atq' os 

" Magna sonaturum, des nominis hujus honorem." 

Hor. Sat. 4. Lib. i. 

Impressed with the excellence of the sub- 
ject, and believing that society is benefited 
by the presence of illustrious example, the 
author of the following pages was induced to 
collect materials for the Life of Taylor ; but 
not until he had observed that, from various 
causes, it had been relinquished by abler 
hands*. Of these it will be expected he 
should give some account. 

The first person who recorded any history 

* The author might have been deterred from entering 
into this subject, had he not been urged to the investi- 
gation, by several literary friends of acknowledged judg- 
ment. Among these, he records with pleasure the name 
of Dr. Thomas Fanshaw Middleton, whose friendship, 
(" qua apud animum meum nihil carius habeo") was ma- 
nifested on this occasion, in a letter written, whilst on his 
voyage to his Bishopric of Calcutta, to stimulate the 
author to the task. 



PREFACE. 



of this eminent Bishop was Dr. George Rust ; 
who, in a sermon preached at Taylor's fu- 
neral, and published in quarto in 1668, has 
comprehended the leading points of his life, 
and entered minutely into his character. The 
author of the " Athense Oxonienses and 
Fasti," has preserved some further information 
on the subject ; but from the nature of these 
works they did not admit of room for more 
than the chief events of his life, and the bare 
mention of his writings. Short as the record 
is, it will be found in great part authentic; 
and to have been the source of information to 
all the subsequent compilers of biographical 
Memoirs. 

The next in order was Thomas Baker, of 
St. John's college, Cambridge ; who, in his 
manuscript notes to the works of the anti- 
quary already mentioned, and preserved in 
the public library in that university, added to 
the stock already collected. 

Bishop White Kennet left important re- 
marks on his writings : and in the Cole ma- 



X PREFACE. 

nuscripts are observations on the same sub- 
ject, made with a view to an Athene? Canta* 
brigienses. In later times, the Reverend 
Mr. Wheeldon, rector of Wheathamstead in 
Hertfordshire, and prebendary of Lincoln, 
made a selection of his works ; which he 
published with a preface in the year 1789, 
(including large extracts from Bishop Rust's 
sermon preached at Taylor's funeral,) in order 
to revive attention to the genius and cha- 
racter of this superior man. And in still more 
modern days, a further selection was made, 
accompanied by extracts from other early 
English writers, with a preface, by Basil 
Montague, esq. A. M. printed in London, 1 805, 

The admirers of Taylor had some reason to 
hope for additional information from the pen 
of the late Reverend Ralph Nicholson, of 
St. James's in Liverpool, and rector of Dud- 
cote, near Abingdon in Berkshire ; but death 
deprived the world of his abilities, which ap- 
pear to have, been eminently qualified for the 
task. * 

* See Gentleman's Magazine : January, 1763: Obi- 
tuary. Mr. Nicholson died December 25th, 1792. His 



PREFACE. 



To supply in some measure this deficiency, 
the author has endeavoured, by reference to 
original and authentic documents, preserved 
in the British Museum, University library at 



papers have since that time been examined, and nothing 
relating to Taylor has been found. This information is 
obtained through the favour of Sir Christopher Robinson, 
Mr. Nicholson's son-in law ; and is confirmed by Arch- 
deacon Churton ; who, in writing to a friend, quotes a 
letter from Mr. Nicholson, sent a short time before his 
death, in which he declares that his inquiries were not 
attended with success. In the Gentleman's Magazine for 
the year 1791, a correspondence is inserted, between Mr. 
Nicholson,under the initials R. N. and other contributors 
under the signatures of E.J. and O. C. from which it 
appears that the materials for a Life of Taylor then in 
Mr. Nicholson's possession, were as follow : 

" 1. Particulars in which the ' Biographia Britannia' 
" differs from the { Oxford Antiquary' in the account of 
u the said Bishop. 

" 2. A more exact Catalogue of his Writings than that 
" in the 'General Dictionary' or ' Anthony Wood' ; where- 
" in the authenticity of the major part is proved, the 
<e spurious rejected, and the places where they were 
" written and published ascertained. 

" 3. A Copy of Archbishop Laud's Letter to the 
" Warden and Fellows of All Souls College, recommend- 
u ing Mr. Taylor to their election as Fellow, which was 
" accepted, though under more than one statutable 
ic disqualification. 

" 4. Testimonia Auctorum, and some other pieces." 



xii 



PREFACE. 



Cambridge, as well as other Repositories of 
Literature, and by a review of his works, to 
give an account of the Life and Writings of 
this accomplished prelate. 

Kings Cliffe, 
May 22a\ 1815. 



i 

m 



THE 



LIFE 



OF 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



CHAPTER L 

FROM 1613 TO 1642. 

E have higher authority than that of hu- 



* * man evidence for asserting, that the 
Church of Christ is firmly founded on a Rock. 
The attack of those who meditate its destruc- 
tion, whether gradual and secret, or manifest 
and sudden, is as ineffectual as it is malignant. 
When assaulted either by infidelity, on the one 
side, or hypocrisy, on the other ; when ob- 
scured by superstition or persecuted by force, 
its divine Protector has successively demon- 
strated the truth of his word, that, " wisdom is 
justified of her children." 8 




Matth. ii. 19* 
B 



2 THE LIFE OF 

At no point of time, since England first re- 
ceived the blessing of Christianity, was this 
more strikingly displayed than in the age which 
succeeded the reformation. " Sons of Pro- 
phets" then arose, endued with such powers 
of mind, animated with such grace, and armed 
with such weapons of erudition, as to render 
them invincible to their present enemies, and 
the admiration of succeeding times. 

Amongst the foremost of these was Jeremy 
Taylor : a person who does not force himself 
into notice by an origin derived from noble an- 
cestors, or raised above the ordinary level of 
mankind. On the contrary, he is found to 
have entered into life in the humblest walk of 
society, and to afford an illustrious example of 
learning and religion rising into notice and to 
honour by their intrinsic excellence. 

Jeremy, the son of Nathaniel and Mary 
Taylor, was born* in the parish of the Holy 

* See Cole MSS. 5882. Art. 4. p. 90. in Brit. Mus.— 
Taylor was not the eldest son, for his brother Nathaniel 
was baptized Dec. 8. 161 1, two years earlier than himself. 
See Reg. of Trin. Parish. Camb. — The place where their 
father is said to have resided at the time of Taylor's birth, 
is in the yardbelonging to a large old house, known by the 
sign of the wrestlers, situate on the south side of the street 
called the Petty-Cury, and near St. Andrew's church. 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



3 



Trinity, in Cambridge, where his father fol- 
lowed the occupation of a barber : and was 
baptized on the 15th day of August, in the 
year of our Lord 161 3. At three years of age 
he was sent to the free school in his native 
town, then b newly founded under the will of 
Stephen Perse, M. D. late senior fellow of 
Gonvil and Caius college, and over which 
Mr. Lovering at that time presided. There 
he continued ten years, making such pro- 
gress in learning as to render him worthy, at 
the age of thirteen, of being admitted at 
Caius College in the same university. He 
was entered a sizar on the 18th of August, 
in the year 1626, under Mr. BachcrofV; 

b Taylor must have been amongst the number of those 
pupils who first took advantage of Dr. Perse's endowment, 
as the doctor's will, under which the school was founded, 
is dated only on the 27th of September 161 5. 

c Although the age at which Taylor is here stated to 
have entered the university be contradicted by the follow- 
ing abstract from the book of entrances at Caius College, 
the testimony of Bishop Rust is here preferred. It ap- 
pears from the register of the parish that he was baptized 
August 15th 1613. — and by the college register that he 
was entered August 18th 1626, thirteen years after hi* 
baptism. The following is copied verbatim from the ad- 
mittance book of Caius College. 

B 2 



4 



THE LIFE OF 



and was matriculated on the 1 7th of March 
following. d 

The studies of the university were at this 
time improving. Bacon, some years before, 
had published his " Advancement of Learn- 
" ing," which had been well received e . His 
Novum Organum had enlarged the bounds 
of reason, and by directing the powers of the 
mind to higher objects, had stamped an ad- 



Jeremias Tailor filiusNathanielis Tonsoris 
Cantabrigiaenatus et ibidem Uteris instruc- 
tus in Schola publica sub M r0 . Lovering 
p' decennium anno aetatis suae 15° admis- 
sus est in Collegium nostrum Augusti 18° 
1626 pauper Scholaris Fidejussore M r °. 
Bachcroft. Solvit pro ingressu . . . 



Tho. BACHCROFT." 

There is in this copy of his admission, a slight variation 
from his own usage in the mode of spelling his surname. 
In the autographs preserved in the parish register at 
Uppingham in Rutlandshire, and at the conclusion of his 
letters preserved in the British Museum, as well as at the 
end of his Epistles Dedicatory, he invariably writes him- 
self Taylor ; and this method is therefore adopted in the 
following pages. 

d " Jeremias Taylor, Coll. Caii admissus in Matriculam 
acad. Cant. Mar. 17. 1626." i. e. 1624. Regr. B. Baker's 
MSS. Vol. 34. p. 157. 

e See his letter to King James I. dated 12th Oct. 1620. 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



ditional value on its acquirements : it had in- 
troduced a new logic, which had led to the 
effect that Bacon himself expressly intended, 
ft teaching to invent and judge by induction, 
" as finding syllogism incompetent for sciences 
" of nature ; and by so doing had made phi- 
" losophy and sciences both more true and 
" more active." f 

Greek and Roman literature was so assi- 
duously cultivated, that it not only found its 
way into the writings of almost all the authors 
of the day, but into the common conversation 
of the higher orders of society. 

At the same time, the result which Bacon 
had anticipated from his labours was actually 
produced. " The foundation of a better mode 
" of reasoning having been laid by him, and 
" the wheel begun to move, men were now 
" searching more truth from Christian writers, 
" than hitherto they had done from heathen.' 5 

Such appears to have been the state of edu- 
cation in the university when Taylor entered 
upon it, possessing the advantages which 

o$ sffiBtt bum \ )vd j.Jnoniida Lsvoitq >vari w 
* See his letter to King James I. dated 12th Oct. 162D. 

* 3 



6 



THE LIFE OP 



Bacon had afforded, but having still to receive 
the further improvement of the Newtonian 
philosophy : and to this source may be traced 
many of the most brilliant ornaments and 
radical defects that are conspicuous in his 
writings. 

In the society of Caius College he continued 
until he was admitted master of arts, having 
taken his degree of bachelor in the year g 1 630- 1 , 
being then in his eighteenth year. Bishop 
Rust asserts, " that as soon as he was graduate, 
" he was chosen fellow 11 ;" . The improvement 
which he made in his infancy was followed up 
with increased assiduity during his residence 
in this college :• and to, such an extent had he 
carried his theological studies, as to be thought 
worthy of admission into holy orders before 
he had attained the age of twenty-one. 1 

V/(ML L )ffl ,'JVOfff Oi IlUgSvl rjJXiW , 4 

«, Jer. Taylor, Coll. Caii. A. B. Cant. 1 630-1. Reg. B. 
b No evidence of the fact appears upon the books; 
but the testimony of Bishop Rust is much too weighty to 
be omitted. See Rust's Funeral Sermon on Taylor. 

I » Comb£r> who wrote at the. latter end of the seven- 
teenth century, in his " Discourse on the Offices of Ordi- 
nation," Lond. 1699, says, " I could instance in divers of 
<( those who entered very young into the ministry, and 
« have proved very eminent ; but I need name no more 
" than the most famously learned Bishop Usher, ordained 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



7 



About the same time he took his degree of 
master of arts, and removed to London, where 
being requested by his chamber-fellow, Mr, 
Bisden, to supply his turn, for a short time, 
at the lecture in St. Paul's Cathedral, he filled 
the pulpit with ability so far beyond his 
standing, as to attract the attention of Arch- 
bishop Laud k : who "observing the tartness 
" of his discourses, the quickness of his parts, 
" the modesty and sweetness of his temper, 
" and the becomingness of his personage and 
" carriage, preferred him to a fellowship at 
" All-Souls College, in the university of Ox- 
" ford ; where he might have time, books, 
" and company, to complete himself in those 
" several parts of learning into which he had 
" made so fair an entrance/' 1 

To this situation he was nominated on the 
a i st of November 01 in the year 1635, and 



* before he was twenty-one ; and the pious and eloquent 
" bishop, Jer. Taylor, who entered into orders younger 
" than he." 

k See Lloyd's Memoirs, p. 702. 

1 See the same. 

■ " Nominatus ad locum Socii a WiU'o Archiep'o Cant, 
" in Coll. Omnium Anim. Oxon. Nov. 21. a° 1635/' 
Cole MSS. 5882. art. 4. p. 90. in the Brit. Mus. 

B 4 



8 



THE LIFE OF 



admitted on the 14th n of January follow- 
ing. The opportunity thus afforded him, of 
increasing his knowledge, he did not misapply: 



In the Baker's MSS. vol. 34. p. 157. University Library, 
Cambridge, the nomination of Taylor to a fellowship at 
All Souls, Oxon. is preserved, and is as follows : 

" Nominatio Jer. Taylor ad locum Socii in Coll. Omn. 
Anim. Oxon. 

" Guilielmus Providentia Divina Cant: Archiep'us to- 
tius Angliae Primas et Metropol. nec non Universitatis 
Oxon. Cancellar. Collegiiq; Animarum Omnium fidelium 
defunctorum de Oxon. Visitator, Patronus, et Ordinarius* 
Dilectis nobis in Christo Custodi, Vicecustodi, omnibusq; 
et singulis dicti Collegii Sociis et Scholaribus salutem et 
gratiam. Cum locus Socii Artistae Collegii vestri dudum 
vacaverit, et vacuus est in presenti, cumq; potestas sup- 
plendi deficientem numerum Sociorum vestrorum, nobis 
per statuta Collegii vestri sit reservata, ratione negligen- 
tias vestrae, eo quod dictus locus Socii vacantis, infra dies 
in statutis Collegii vestri limitatos, per vos non fuerit 
perimpletus. Nos numerum Sociorum vestrorum, secun- 
dum potestatem a fundatore vestro nobis commissam, 
implere volentes Jcremiam Taylor Artium M um ad sup- 
plendum dictum locum Artistae vacantem, designamus 
vobis mandantes ut praefatum Jeremiam Taylor, ad dictum 
locum . vacantem secundum formam statutorum Collegii 
vestri recipiatis et admittatis. In cujus rei testimonium, 
sigilluin nostrum, Archi-ep'ale presentibus apponi fecimus. 
Dat. in Manerio nostro de Lambehith, vicessimo primo 
die Mensis Novembris, Anno D'ni. 1635. et nostrae Trans, 
anno tertio. 

a See the admission Book of Pellows, MS. in All Soul's, 
lib. Oxon. " Jeremias Taylor Dio. Elie, Artium Magister* 
«' 1635: January 14, perpetual fellow." 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



9 



and whilst in this new seat of learning he 
accomplished the object of his patron's muni- 
ficence, and gratified his own attachment to 
literature, " love and admiration still waited 
" upon him." ° 

At this time the Papists circulated a report, 
that he was strongly inclined to enter into com- 
munion with the church of Rome. But the 
authority upon which this rests must be con- 
sidered very doubtful: for the fact is well 
established, that the popish faction at that 
time omitted no opportunity of promoting its 
interest ; and doubtless, anticipated a splendid 
triumph in the conversion of such a disciple* 

It seems, that the eagerness of the party for 
so eminent a convert had carried its hopes 
to an unreasonable degree : grounded, it might 
be, upon the intimacy of Taylor with Francis a 
Sancta Clara, a member of the Romish church ; 
upon his knowledge of popish writings, which 
was extensive ; and upon the fervour of his 
piety, which glowed with seraphic warmth. 
The best answer to this report is an appeal to 
his works, which contain nothing that savours 

* Bp. Rust's funeral sermon. 



THE LIFE OF 



of Romish errors ; but, on the contrary, abound 
with arguments against them, as energetic 
and zealous, as are to be met with in the ablest 
apologies of the reformed religion. 

Reference may directly be made to his ser- 
mon, preached a short time after the circu- 
lation of this report, at St. Mary's at Oxford, 
before the University, " on the fifth of Novem- 
" ber, in the year one thousand six hundred and 
" thirty-eight, on the anniversary of the Gun- 
" powder Treason," and by the appointment 
of his patron the Archbishop. In this sermon p , 
says the Oxford antiquary, several things were 
inserted against the Papists by the vice-chan- 
cellor, which gave such offence to them, that 
they rejected him with scorn, particularly to 
his friend Francis a St. Clara q , who told An- 

* Athen. Oxon. vol. 2. p. 400. and General Dictionary, 
printed at Oxford, 1638. 

* Francis a Sancta Clara was author of a religious 
work called " Deus, Natura, Gratia. Sive Tractatus de 
f < Predestinatione, de Mentis & peccatorum remis- 
" sione, seu de Justificatione, & denique de sanctorum 
€i Invocatione. 

" Ubi ad trutinam Fidei Catholicae examinatur con- 
V. fessio Anglicana et ad singula puncta, quid teneat, qua* 
" liter differat, excutitur. 

" Doctrina etiam doctoris subtilis, D. Augustini se- 
" quacis acutissimi, olim Oxoniae & Cantabrigiae, & 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



ii 



thony Wood, that Taylor afterwards expressed 
some sorrow for what he had said. But there 
is reason for believing that the antiquary was 
too credulous on this occasion : for if the 
vice-chancellor had done what was reported, 
he must have completely new-modelled the 
whole discourse, it being as direct an attack 
upon the principles which actuated that party, 
as can well be imagined. That a man, like 
Taylor, should deliberately pronounce such a 
discourse, and afterwards childishly lament it 
in the ears of the very party he had so strenu- 
ously and successfully opposed, is scarcely to 
be credited. 

In the first letter addressed " to a gentleman 
" who was tempted to the Romish church/' 
written many years after, he denies the charge 
in terms too plain to be misinterpreted. After 
answering such parts of the subject as related 



" solemnitur approbate, & honorifice praelecta, exponitur 
" & propugnatur. 

" Accessit paraphrastica expositio reliquorum articu- 
" lorum confessionis Anglicae." 

In the title page he styles himself " Olim Duacenset 
44 in Collegio D. Bonaventurse, Provinciae Angliae, F.F. 
" Minorum, S. Theol. Lectorem primarium." The book 
was published at Lyons in 1634. 



12 THE LIFE OF 

to the particular case of the person he is ad- 
dressing, he says, "the other thing I am to speak 
" to is, the report you have heard of my incli- 
" nations to go over to Rome. Sir, that party 
" which need such lying stories for the sup- 
" port of their cause, proclaim their cause to 
" be very weak, or themselves to be very 
" evil advocates. Sir, be confident, they dare 
" not tempt me to do so, and it is not the 
ft first time they have endeavoured to serve 
" their ends by saying such things of me. 
" But I bless God for it; it is perfectly 
" a slander, and it shall, I hope, for ever 
" prove so." r 

About this time he was appointed chaplain 
in ordinary to the King, having already 8 been 
made chaplain to the archbishop. And on 
the 23d 1 of March, in the year 1637-8, he 

. f 'ZyfjtfS <3>£o\o<y, p. 68. 

s See the dedication prefixed to the sermon. 

e It is stated in the Biographical Dictionaries, that Laud 
presented him to the rectory of Uppingham. But the 
following is a copy of the institution register at Peter- 
borough. It is propable that it was his option, or that 
he used his interest to obtain it for his chaplain. " 23d 
" March 1637-8, the Rev. Jeremy Taylor, Clerk, M.A. 
" was instituted by rrancis. Lord Bishop of Peter- 
" borough, on the presentation of William, Lord Bishop 
« of London, on the resignation of Edward Martin." 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 1 3 

was instituted to the rectory of Uppingham, 
in the county of Rutland, by Francis Dee, 
Bishop of Peterborough, on the presentation 
of William Juxon, Bishop of London ; and 
on the resignation of Edward Martin, B. D. 

He had no sooner received institution into 
this preferment, than he commenced his 
charge" over it; and continued to reside at 

u A charge, which he found in the hands of Peter 
Hausted, curate under the late incumbent, and a man 
not unknown in the republic of letters. He was admitted 
to his degree of D. D. on the 1st of Nov. 1642, at Oxford, 
the day on which Taylor was admitted to his. Anthony 
Wood gives the following account of him. " This noted 
" person was born at Oundle, in Northamptonshire, edu- 
4i cated at Queen's college, in Cambridge, entered into 
" holy orders, when A. M. became curate of Uppingham, 
'* in Rutlandshire, and at length rector, as 'tis said, of 
" Hadham, in Herts. Upon the breaking out of the 
" Rebellion, or thereabouts, he became chaplain to the 
<( Noble and Loyal Spencer, Earl of Northampton, stuck 

close to him in all engagements, was with him at the 
*' castle of Banbury, in Oxfordshire, when stoutly de- 
" fended against them: where, concluding his last day 
" in the year 1645, was either buried in the precincts of 
" that castle, or else in the church of Banbury. This 
4< person, who was always accounted an ingenious man 
" and an excellent poet, hath written and published 
" several things; as, 1st. The Rival Friends, a Comedy, 
" London, 1632, 4to. acted before the King and Queen 
" at Cambridge, 19th March 1630. 2d. Senile Odium: 
£i Comedia Cantabrigiae publice academicis recitata in 



THE LIFE OF 



Uppingham until the year 1642. On x the 
27th of May, in the year 1639, he was mar- 
ried in the church of that town to Phoebe 
Landisdale, by whom there is sufficient au- 
thority to state, he had four sons and three 
daughters. 

A diligent search has been made after the 
family of Mrs. Taylor, which has not been 
attended with success. The fact of her mar- 
riage having been solemnized in the church 
at Uppingham might lead to the supposition 
of her having been an inhabitant of that neigh- 



" Coll. Iteginali ab ejusdem Collegii juventute, Cantab. 
" 1633, in 12 . 3d. Ten Sermons preached upon several 
" Sundays and Saints' Days, Lond. 1636, in 410. To 
" which is added, an Assize Sermon. 4th. Ad Populum. 
" A Lecture to the People, with a Satire against Sepa- 
" ratists, Oxon. 1644, m tnr ee sheets, 4to. It is a 
" poem, and the title of it was given by King Charles the 
" First, who seeing it in manuscript, with the title of a 
" Sermon to the People, he altered it, and caused it to 
" be called a Lecture, &c. being then much pleased with 

it. He also translated into English Hymnus * Tabaci, 
" &c. London, 1651, 8vo. 

x Parish register of Uppingham, in which Taylor's 
hand writing occurs, from the year 1637 to 1641. 

* Hymnus Tabaci, sive de Paeto libri duo, was written by Raphael 
Thorius, commonly called Thoris, by birth a Frenchman, who studied 
physic at Oxford, and died of the plague in London, 1625. Wood's 
Athen. Vol. II. p.713. and Vol. I, p. 422. 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



bourhood, if not of that parish, it being a 
custom long prevalent in this country for the 
ceremony to take place in the church to which 
the residence of the bride is attached. A 
letter from her husband, addressed to her 
brother, Dr. Langsdale, at Gainsborough, con- 
tains the only allusion to her family that is 
met with; and being one amongst the very 
few specimens of his epistolary writing on 
record, is, on that account, here inserted at 
length. 

" To my very deare Brother Dr. Langsdale, at 
" his Apothecaryes House in Gainsborough. 

" Deare Brother, 

" Thy letter was most welcome to me, 
" bringing the happy newes of thy recovery, 
" I had notice of thy danger, but watched 
" for this happy relation, and had layd wayte 
" with Royston to inquire of Mr. Rumbould. 
" I hope I shall not neede to bid thee be 
" carefull for the perfecting thy health and 
" to be feareful of a relapse ; though I am 
" very much, yet thou thyself art more con- 
" cerned in it. But this I will remind thee 
" of, that thou be infinitely to performe to 
" God all those holy promises which I sup- 
" pose thou didst make in thy sicknesse; 
li 



i6 



THE LIFE OF 



" and remember what thoughts thou hadst 
" then, and beare them along upon thy spirit 
" all thy life time ; for that which was true 
" then, is so still j and the world is really 
" as vain a thing, as thou didst then suppose 
" it. I durst not tell thy mother of thy 
" danger (though I heard of it) till at the 
M same time I told her of thy recovery, 
" Poore woman ! she was troubled and pleased 
m at the same time ; but your letter did de- 
" termine her. I take it kindly that thou 
" hast writ to Bowman. If I had been in 
" condition, you should not have beene 
" troubled with it ; but, as it is, thou and I 
" must be content. Thy mother sends her 
" blessing to her and her little Molly; so 
« doe I, and my prayers to God for you both. 
" Your little cozens are your servants, and 
« I am 

" thy most affectionate and endeared 
" brother, 

" November " 7 Jer Taylor." 

" 24th 1643. 

Of the exemplary manner in which Taylor 
administered the spiritual concerns of his 

y This letter is in Taylor's hand writing, MSS. Donat. 
4274, Art. 49. in the Brit. Mus. 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



parish, a fair conclusion may be drawn both 
from his ardent piety and from the way 
in which he himself speaks of his experience 
in the conduct of souls. As favourable an im- 
pression may be received of the manner in 
which he regulated the secular affairs of his 
duty, from the evidence left on the parochial 
records, whence it appears that he was always 
present at the election of annual officers and 
entered many particulars in the books with his 
own hand. Amongst others of inferior note 
is the copy of a letter directed to him and the 
churchwardens from Dr. John Towers, bishop 
of Peterborough, upon the subject of an organ y 
for the erection of which an order had been 
sent to Taylor by Bishop Dee, there having 
been an instrument of the same kind formerly 
in the church. 

The parish had obeyed the order, but were 
at a loss how to provide a stipend for an organ- 
ist ; and the object of this letter was to give 
directions to that purpose. 

But this is not the only instance in which 
he appears to have promoted decency and re* 
gularity in the public service of his church ; 
for in the next page of the book alluded to, 

c 



THE LIFE OF 



a remarkable entry occurs in his own hand, 
containing a list of the books, vestments, ves- 
sels and furniture belonging to the church ; all 
of which seem to have been new, as the re- 
cord begins by stating, that on the ioth of May 
in the year 1639, they were dedicated for the 
church of Uppingham, by the bishop of Peter- 
borough, in the cathedral church. z 

During his residence upon his living he lost 
his son William, who was a buried at Uppingham, 

2 From their being dedicated, there is reason to sup- 
pose they were a gift to the church. Degge, p 1. c. 12. 
says, " that a person may give or dedicate goods to God's 
service in the church, and deliver them into the custody 
of the churchwardens, and thereby the property is imme- 
diately changed." But this does not seem to have been 
practised, or to be necessary in the ordinary case of 
their being provided by the churchwardens, at the ex- 
pence of the parish. In the particular instance now be- 
fore us their superior costliness bespeaks something more 
than parochial origin. They are stated as follows. One 
chalice with a cover silver and gilt ; two patins silver and 
gilt ; two pewter flaggons ; one diaper napkin for a *cor- 
porale ; one bible ; one book of common prayer ; one altar 
cloth of green silk damask ; two altar cloths of diaper ; 
one long cushion of crimson velvet, lined with crimson 
serge with four great tassels of crimson silk ; one short 
cushion of the same ; one tippet of taffety sarcenet ; one 
surplice ; two black hoods of serge lined with taffety sar- 
cenet. 

a Vid. Par. Regist. de Uppingham. 



* Corporate erit candidum atq. mundum, says Linwood, quia siguificat sin- 
donem, in qua. Corpus Christi fuit involutum. 



JEREMY TAYLOR* 



I 9 



on the 28th of May, in the year 1642. Till 
this time of life Taylor appears to have ex- 
perienced an uninterrupted series of good for- 
tune. But the hour was now arrived when, 
in common with every established minister 
and loyal subject, he was to suffer a reverse* 



c 2 



20 T*IE LIFE OF 



CHAP. II. 

from 1642 to 1645. 

/^\N the 3d of November in the year 1640, 
that parliament assembled which accom- 
plished the subversion of the monarchical and 
episcopal governments. One of its first acts 
was the impeachment of Taylor's great patron, 
Archbishop Laud, who was committed to the 
custody of the gentleman usher on Friday the 
1 8 th of the ensuing December, and on Monday 
the 1 st of May following was finally conveyed 
to the tower. 

The situation of the archbishop, opposed by 
powerful and vindictive enemies, must have 
deeply affected the susceptible and ardent mind 
of Taylor : and the danger which he saw im- 
pending over the ecclesiastical government, 
called for those exertions which his knowledge 
and ability were so highly calculated to sup- 
ply. These produced his " Episcopacy a asser- 

a The Bishop of Exon (Hall) led the way in defence of 
episcopacy, (says Heylin in his Life of Laud) presenting 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



21 



ted against the Aerians b and Acephati new and 
old which was published at the king's com- 



H An humble remonstrance to the high court of Parlia- 
" ment, in behalf of liturgy and episcopacy," which pre- 
sently was encountered with an answer, wherein the origi- 
nal of liturgy and episcopacy is pretended to be discussed* 
This answer framed by a junto of five Presbyterian minis- 
ters, in or about the city of London, the letters of whose 
names being laid together made up the word Smectymnuus. 
The bishop replies in a " Vindication ;" which vindication 
had a rejoinder, by Smectymnuus. And at the same time 
a discourse was published by Sir Thomas Ashton. In 
the first part of which he gives " A survey of the inconve- 
14 niences of the Presbyterian discipline, and the inconveni- 
" ences thereof with the constitution of this state." And 
in the second, " The original institution, succession, and 
" jurisdiction of the ancientand venerable order of bishops." 
This last part was seconded within the compass of this 
year (1641 ) by the History of Episcopacy, first published 
as the work of Theophilus Churchman, and not till many 
years after owned by the author's name. The next year 
brought forth a book by Dr. Taylor, called " Episcopacy 
" asserted," and the Aeriomastix of John Thyer, &c. All 
of them backed, and the two last encouraged by many pe- 
titions to his Majesty, and both houses of Parliament, not 
only from the two Universities, whom it most concerned, 
but from several counties of the kingdom. Fol. p. 465. 

b Aerius, from whom this sect is denominated, was a 
Presbyter of Sebastia. He separated from the church, 
because Eustathius was raised to the bishopric of Sebas- 
tia in preference to himself, about 385. Taylor adopts 
the supposition of some persons, that he was the founder 
of the Presbyterians. 



22 



THE LIFE OF 



rnand; It was brought out at Oxford in the 
year 1 642 in quarto, and was printed by Leo- 
nard Lichfield, Printer to the University. In 
the title page, he stiles himself " Jer. Taylor, late 
Fellow of All SoulesinOxon," whence we infer 
that he had not then been admitted to the de- 
gree of Doctor in Divinity, and that the publi- 
cation of this work was not later than the au- 
tumn of that year. 

In this treatise he employs consummate learn- 
ing, and adduces powerful evidence to demon- 
strate that Christ instituted a government in 
his church, which was first committed by him 
to the apostles, with a power of joining others 
and appointing successors in the apostleship ; 
that this succession into the ordinary office of 
apostleship is continued in the order of bishops : 
for the apostle and bishop are the same as well 
in name and person, as in office ; which Christ 
himself has made distinct from that of Presby- 
ters:— conferring on apostles some powers, 
which he did not give to others ; as of ordina- 
tion, confirmation, and superiority of juris- 
diction : so that bishops are successors in the 
office of apostleship according to the general 
tenor of antiquity. He then proceeds to shew 
that the institution of episcopacy as well as the 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



23 



apostleship is expressed to be divine, by primi- 
tive authority : that in pursuance of the divine 
institution, the apostles ordained bishops in se- 
veral churches ; as St. James at Jerusalem, and 
after him Simeon ; Timothy at Ephesus ; Titus 
at Crete ; Mark at Alexandria ; Poly carp at 
Smyrna, and many others. So that episcopacy 
is at least of apostolical ordinance ; resting on 
the same foundation with many other points 
generally believed ; and was an office of great 
weight and power. That this office was not 
lessened by the assistance and council of pres- 
byters ; and that such has been the faith and 
practice of Christendom. He then points out 
that the first thing done in the christian 
church, upon the death of the apostles, was the 
distinguishing of names, which before were 
used in common, appropriating the word epis- 
copus or bishop to the supreme church officer, 
calling the bishop, and him only, the pastor and 
doctor of the church. That this was a distinct 
order from the rest, to which the presbyterate 
was but a degree, there being a peculiar man- 
ner of ordination to a bishopric, at which 
presbyters never assisted by imposition of 
hands. For bishops had a power distinct, and 
superior to that of presbyters : as of ordination, 
confirmation, and jurisdiction ; this was ex- 

c 4 



24 



THE LIFE OF 



pressed in attributes of authority, which re- 
quired universal obedience to be given to bi- 
shops by clergy and laity ; appointed them to 
be judges of the clergy and spiritual causes of 
the laity ; forbad presbyters to officiate with- 
out episcopal licence, reserved church-goods 
to episcopal dispensation ; and forbad presby- 
ters to leave their own diocese, or to travel 
without leave of the bishop. He shews, that 
the bishop had power to prefer which of his 
clerks he pleased, and that bishops only voted 
in councils, and neither presbyters nor people : 
that the bishop had a propriety in the persons 
of his clerks : and that the jurisdiction of bi- 
shops was over many congregations, or parishes ; 
which was aided by presbyters, but not im- 
paired ; so that the government of the church 
by bishops w T as believed necessary. For they 
are schismatics and heretics that separate from 
their bishops ; and bishops w r ere always in the 
church men of great honour, and trusted with 
affairs of secular interest. On this account they 
were forced to delegate their power and put 
others in substitution. But these were always 
clergymen : for there never was any lay-elder 
\n any church office heard of in the church. 

Such are the contents of this learned and 
ii 



JEREMY TAYLOR, 

valuable treatise, which he dedicates to Sir 
Christopher Hatton, afterwards created Lord 
Hatton of Kirby, and a man worthy of his 
friendship and commendation. Faithful to 
religion and his king, possessing a more than 
ordinary share of knowledge, a great admirer 
of learning, and warmed by an even flame of 
piety, in him Taylor found a patron capable of 
appreciating his worth, and a disposition eager 
to embrace his friendship. 

Their acquaintance originated, probably," du- 
ring Taylor's residence at Uppingham, in the 
neighbourhood of Kirby, the seat of the 
Hattons, a seat enlarged and ornamented by 
this distinguished nobleman. 

Sir c Christopher was the son and heir of a 
father of the same name and title, and was 
educated at Jesus d College in Cambridge, and 

* Vide Dugdale Baron. 

d Vide Ath. Oxon. Vol. i. p. 223. Sir Christopher 
Hatton was attached to the study of antiquity, and at con- 
siderable expence obtained collections from public re- 
cords, ancient charters and other MSS. The world is in- 
debted to him for using his interest in encouraging Dug- 
dale in his studies, and placing him in a situation that en- 
abled him to prosecute them with the greatest facility. 
Sir Christopher was member for Higham Ferrers, in 



26 



THE LIFE OF 



made Knight of the Bath at the coronation of 
King Charles the First ; to whom he mani- 
fested the warmest attachment. He was one 
of the first who came to assist his sovereign ; 
and supported the royal cause, both by his 
person and with his estate. As a reward for 
such services, in the year 1643, ne was created 
Lord Hatton of Kirby, in the county of North- 
ampton, and constituted comptroller of the 
household, having been admitted to the degree 



Northamptonshire, in the Parliament which met Novem- 
ber the 3d, 1640, and foreseeing the issue of the measures 
pursued by the predominant party, that the public wor- 
ship would be profaned, and works of art destroyed, he 
encouraged Dugdale to visit as many of our principal 
churches as he could, in order to preserve the remem- 
brance of whatever was worthy of his pencil. In the sum- 
mer of 1 641, Dugdale, accompanied by William Sedgwick, 
a skilful arms-painter, " repaired first to the cathedral of 
St. Paul, and next to the Abbey of Westminster, and 
there made exact draughts of all the monuments in each 
of them, copied the epitaphs according to the very letter, 
and all the arms in the windows or cut in stone. All of 
which being done with great exactness, Mr. Dugdale 
rode to Peterborough, Ely, Norwich, Lincoln, New- 
ark upon Trent, Beverley, Southwell, Kingston upon Hull, 
York, Selby, Chester, Lichfield, Tamworth, Warwick, 
and did the like in all those cathedral, collegiate, conven- 
tual and divers other churches, wherein any tombs and 
monuments were to be found, to the end that the memory 
of them might be preserved for future and better times. 
Fasti. Oxon. p. 694. 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



*7 



of doctor of civil law at Oxford, on the same 
day with Taylor. At the restoration he was 
appointed governor of Guernsey, and a privy 
counsellor. How Taylor valued this noble 
person is best expressed in his own language, 
conveyed in the epistle dedicatory, prefixed 
to the " Great Exemplar." 

" My lord," he says, " Although the results 
" and issues of my retirements and study, do 
" naturally run towards you, and carry no 
" excuse for their forwardness, but the confi- 
" dence that your goodness rejects no emana- 
" tion of a great affection, yet in this address 
" I am apt to promise myself a fair inter- 
" pretation, because I bring you an Instru- 
" ment, and auxiliaries to that devotion, 
" whereby we believe you are dear to God, and 
" know that you are, to good men." 

Sir Christopher appears to have been a per- 
son of no ordinary merit : for Taylor in another 
part of his works speaks of " his wisdom and 
" learning, the great reputation he had abroad 
" and the honour he had at home ; that he had 
f* secured to himself a great name in all the 
" registers of honour by his skill and love to 
" all things that are excellent ; that he was 



28 



THE LIFE OF 



" loved and honoured by the beauties of his 
" virtue, and the sweetness of his disposition, 
" by his worthy employments at court, and his 
" being so beloved in his country, by the value 
" his friends put upon him, and the regard that 
" strangers paid to him, by his zeal for the 
" church, and his busy care in the promoting 
" all worthy learning, by his religion and his 
u nobleness/' 

We have stated that about the time of 
Taylor's institution to Uppingham, he was 
appointed one of the chaplains in ordinary ; and 
being warmly attached to his royal master, 
the fortune of the one involved to a great de- 
gree that of the other. It is with reason pre- 
sumed that he quitted Uppingham at the lat- 
ter end of the summer of the year 1 642 ; and 
from that time he must be considered as bear- 
ing his part in the public calamity. 

On the twenty-second of August of the 
same year, the King erected his standard at 
Nottingham, and proceeded by a circuitous 
march to Oxford. Taylor was called upon to 
attend his Majesty in his capacity of chaplain, 

c His handwriting is not met with in the registers at 
Uppingham after that time. 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



»9 



and might possibly have joined the army at 
that time, as its route lay at a short distance 
from his residence at Uppingham. The King 
after the battle of Edgehill, on the 23d of 
October, pursued his course on the following 
day towards the University, and in his way 
forced the garrison at Banbury to surrender ; 
and he occupied the time between the 23d of 
October and the 1 ith of the succeeding month 
in advancing through Oxford and Reading to 
Colnbrook, with the intention of proceeding 
to the capital; but, finding his march ob- 
structed by the superiority of the forces op- 
posed to him, he returned to the University, 
and resided for some time at Christ Church. 
During this cessation from conflict, Wood re- 
lates, that " it was his Majesty's pleasure that 

there should be a creation in all faculties, of 
" such as had either done him service in the 

late battle, or had retired to him at Oxford 
u for shelter, to avoid the barbarities of the 
" Presbyterians, then very frequent through- 
" out the nation. Accordingly a f convocation 

f This convocation is denominated the Caroline, and in 
Liber. Convocationis Univ. Oxon. Archiv. S. B. 25, 1641 
— 1647, is called u celeberrima convocation©." The King 
himself signed the book in the margin " Charles R." So 
numerous were the degrees, that " darkness coming on 
** before the business was concluded, the convocation was 



3 o 



THE LIFE OF 



" was held on the ist of November, — a con- 
" vocation memorable both for the number of 
" degrees created, and the persons upon whom 
If they were conferred. Amongst these Taylor 
" is conspicuous.' ' But whilst he was re- 
ceiving the honour of his degree, he was losing 
the subsistence which his benefice had afforded 
him. For on the 15th of the preceding Octo- 
ber, the Parliament had resolved, " that the 
ff fines; rents, and profits of archbishops, 
" bishops, deans and chapters, and of such 
" notorious delinquents as had taken up arms 
" against the Parliament, or had been active 
<? in the commission of array, should be se- 
" questered for the use and service of the 
" common wealth." 

The destruction of churches followed. The 
organs, painted windows, and monuments were 
defaced. Tithes were refused to those who 
read the Common Prayer ; and the regular 
divines were plundered, their livings seques- 
tered, and themselves driven away, to make 
room for schismatics and enthusiasts. 



" adjourned to the next day." Charles Prince of Wales, 
and James Duke of York, were then created Masters of 
Arts. 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



After this time we have no trace of Taylor 
on his benefice at Uppingham g . And as the 
next year commenced with the prosecution of 
the treaty between the parliamentary commis- 
sioners and the King, then at Oxford, it may 
be presumed that he was now in attendance 
on his royal master ; who remained in that 
city until August, having been joined by the 
Queen on the 1 3th of July. 

Being one of the King's retinue, he is re- 
ported to have accompanied the army, which was 
before Gloucester on the 10th of that month, 
and at Newbury on the 20th of October. 
But the loss sustained by the royal forces at 

* Though Taylor was compelled to leave his benefice, 
which was sequestered, it does not appear that he relin- 
quished his claim to it. For no rector occurs between 
his departure and the year 1661, when John Allington 
signs himself as such. In the mean time, viz. at Easter, 
1642, Anthony Harvey signs himself, as acting in the 
choice of a churchwarden, for the rector " in nomine et 
u potestate ejus." During the ten years following no 
record seems to have been made of the choice of officers ; 
but on the 20th of April 1652, Daniel Swift is mentioned 
as choosing a churchwarden, and subscribes himself, 
" Pastor de Uppingham." From this date to the Easter 
of 1 66 1 no signature occurs, either of rector or pastor. 
John Allington then signs himself " Rector there," and 
he was probably the same as had been curate in 1631. 
Hence it appears that no person had subscribed himself 
rector of the parish, between the time of Taylor's seques- 
tration and the year x66i, when he was raised to the mitre. 



32 



THE LIFE OF 



the latter place, induced the King to return 
again to Oxford, where he assembled a Par- 
liament on the 2 2d of January; which was 
prorogued from the 16th of April till the 8th 
of October. But the court continued at Ox- 
ford until the 7th of May 1645 > an d bio- 
graphers have asserted, with great appearance 
of truth that, during these intervals of rest 
from warfare, Taylor, in concert with Usher h 
and Sheldon \ was often summoned to preach 
before it. 

On the 7th of May the King again took the 
field, and marched to relieve Chester ; but 
afterwards diverted his course towards Leices- 
ter, and took it by storm on the 29th. Thence 
he advanced towards Daventry, with the inten- 
tion of relieving Oxford, then threatened with 

h See Life of Usher, by John Aikin, M.D. 18 12. p. 264. 

* At this time much of the worth and learning of the 
kingdom was concentrated in Oxford. Usher, driven 
from the primacy of Ireland, was there, residing in the 
house of his friend Dr. Prideaux, Bishop of Worcester ; 
occupied in preparing an edition of the Epistles of Bar- 
nabas and Ignatius, and generally preaching every sab- 
bath-day in some of the churches. Dr. Hammond also 
had sought an asylum in Magdalen-college, the seat of 
his earlier studies, and was employed in bringing before 
the world his Practical Catechism, and in publishing 
several other tracts upon subjects most perverted by the 
errors of the time. 



JEREMY TAYLOR, 



33 



a siege ; but hearing that the parliamentary 
general had withdrawn his troops, he turned 
to Northampton. 

On the 14th of June the King lost almost 
the whole of his forces, and his cabinet of 
papers and letters, at the battle of Naseby. 
So complete was the victory on that day in 
favour of the Parliament, that the King, with 
some scattered horse was compelled to fly from 
Leicester to Ashby-de-la-Zouch ; thence to 
Lichfield, and, for a safer retreat, into Wales. 
And though he was sufficiently recruited to 
advance with a body of horse towards Lich- 
field in the beginning of August, yet there is 
reason to conclude that Taylor did not return 
with him. 

If, indeed, he were still in attendance on 
the army, he must have accompanied it through 
the counties of Nottingham, Lincoln, Hun- 
tingdon, and Bedford, and arrived at Oxford 
on the 28th of August ; two days after which 
the forces marched to Campden ; and, having 
taken a fruitless route through the counties of 
Gloucester, Hereford, Worcester, Salop, and 
Chester, again returned to Oxford* 



34 



THE LIFE OF 



But the King's prospects were now enve- 
loped in gloom ; and to so low a state had he 
fallen on the 7th of April of the succeeding 
year, that he was compelled to quit Oxford at 
midnight, in disguise, accompanied only by 
Dr. Hudson and Mr. John Ashburnham, and 
to put himself under the protection of the 
Scots' army, then before Newark. From this 
day no chaplain was in attendance on his per- 
son. Though he wrote to the Parliament, 
desiring Dr. Sheldon and some other of his 
chaplains might be with him, he was refused ; 
and it was not until the 1 6th of August of the 
year 1647, that we find them waiting upon 
him, which they then did at Hampton-court. 
But that Taylor was not of the number, ap- 
pears from the publication of his " Liberty of 
Prophecying," which took place in this year ; 
and was written, as he himself declares in his 
Epistle Dedicatory prefixed to that work, after 
his retreat into Wales. 

The conclusion which is drawn from the 
facts produced is, that Taylor retired into 
Wales, either in the summer of the year 1 645, 
or in the spring of the year succeeding. 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 35 

CHAP. III. 

FROM 1646 TO 1647. 

AMONGST the many circumstances that 
at once attract attention and excite 
surprise during the gloomy contest, which at 
that time distracted England, and drove her 
most religious inhabitants from their homes, 
to seek an asylum at a distance from the 
scene of discord, none more deeply impresses 
the mind, than the numerous and profound 
writings which were rapidly published and 
read with avidity, during such a season. 

This may in some measure be accounted 
for, by the slight apprehension entertained by 
the people, of the fatal issue of the contest, 
in the murder of the sovereign ; and least of 
all, by the King himself ; who was known, 
even during his restraint, to be sufficiently 
tranquil, to investigate the profundity of 
Hooker and Hammond, and enjoy the imagin- 
ation of Tasso and Ariosto. 



D 2 



36 



THE LIFE OF 



A striking instance of abstraction of mind 
from passing events, is afforded during those 
years of the life of Taylor, which were spent 
either in the hurry of war, or the seclusion of 
a precarious retirement ; the time of his life 
at which we are now arrived. 

During this unsettled state of public affairs, 
though harassed by frequent change of situ- 
ation, and distracted by the bustle of conflict, 
Taylor did not lose sight of that, which, in his 
estimation, was most valuable, namely, the 
Church of Christ as it had been established 
in England at the Reformation, though now 
abused and persecuted. " We have not only 
" felt," he says, " the evils of an intestine 
" war, but God hath smitten us in our spirit. 
" But I delight not to observe the correspond- 
" encies of such sad accidents, which, as they 
" may happen upon divers causes, or may be 
" forced violently by the strength of fancy, or 
" driven on by jealousy, and the too fond 
" opinings of troubled hearts and afflicted 
" spirits ; so they do but help to vex the of- 
" fending part, and relieve the afflicted but 
" with a phantastic and groundless comfort : 
" I will therefore deny leave to my own 
H affections, to ease themselves by complain- 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



37 



* 6 ing of others : I shall only crave leave that 
" I may remember Jerusalem, and call to mind 
" the pleasures of the temple, the order of her 
" services, the beauty of hei buildings, the 
" sweetness of her songs, the decency of her 
" ministrations, the assiduity and ceconomy 
" of her priests and Levites, the daily sacri- 
" fice, and that eternal fire of devotion that 
" went not out by day nor by night : these 
" were the pleasures of our peace ; and there 
" is a remanent felicity in the very memory 
" of those spiritual delights which we then 
" enjoyed as antepasts of heaven, and con- 
" signations to an immortality of joys.'* a 

The assembly of divines issued a form oi 
worship, called " A Directory," " on the first 
" b of July in the year 1643; which was 
" authorised by an ordinance of the thirteenth 
" of March following. On the appearance of 
" this precept, which took away that form of 
" prayer, that by the authority and consent 
" of all the binding power of the kingdom, 
" had been used and enjoyed ever since the 

* Polemical discourses, or 2vp£«X<»y BtoXoymov, Preface to 
Apology for Liturgy. 
b Heylin's Life of Laud. 

*> 3 



38 



THE LIFE OF 



" reformation," Taylor instantly engaged in a 
refutation of its principles, and produced his 
" Apology for authorised and set forms of 
" Liturgy ; against the pretence of the 
" Spirit." 

The treatise itself bears internal evidence 
of its having been written soon after the pub- 
lication of the directory ; and the dedication, 
which is to the King, states that it was not < 
given to the world till two years afterwards : 
this circumstance fixes the date of its com- 
position in the year 1644. In the mean time 
he published a discourse concerning prayer 
which appeared in 4to. in 1646, without his 
name . In fact the apology is only an am- 
plification of this, which he called " A Dis- 
" course concerning Prayer extempore, or by ' 
" pretence of the Spirit, in justification of 
'^authorised and set forms of Liturgie, 
** printed in the y ere 1646." 

In, delivering his judgment upon this sub- 
ject, he exercises no asperity, being resolved, 
as he himself declares, 4 ' not to be angry with 

e Brit. Mus. Trin. Coll. Camb. G. 3. 4. The name of 
the place where published is not mentioned. 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



39 



" any men of another persuasion, as knowing 
" that he differed just as much from them, as 
" they did from him," 

He first considers the opinions of those 
who deny all set forms d , though in the 
subject matter they are confessed innocent and 
blameless. In the course of the investigation 
he canvasses the question of the operation of 
the spirit, applied particularly to the case of 
prayer, and shews, that " whatever this gift 
" is, or this spirit of prayer, it is to be ac- 
" quired by human industry, by searching the 
" Scriptures, by reading, by conference, and N 
™ by whatsoever else faculties are improved, 
" and habits enlarged. That God's spirit 
" hath done his work sufficiently this way, and 
" he loves not either in nature or grace 

(which are his two great sanctions) to mul- 
" tiply miracles when there is no need/' 

Having examined the full scope of the objec- 
tions brought by those persons who oppose all 
set forms, he proceeds to investigate the sen- 
timents of those who give leave that set forms 

* In the Brit. Mus. " An Apology for authorized and 
" Set Forms of Liturgie, against the Pretence of the 
" Spirit. 410 Lond. 1649." 

» 4 



40 



THE LIFE OF 



may be used, provided it be left to themselves 
to make them. And having stated and sup- 
ported his argument in favour of authorised 
and set forms of Liturgy, with all the force 
that just reason and Scripture afford 6 , he de- 
livers this important opinion : "If all Chris- 
" tian Churches had one common Liturgy, 
" there were not a greater symbol to testify, 
" nor a greater instrument to preserve the 
" Catholick Communion ; and in former ages, 
" whenever a schism was commenced, and 
" that they called one another heretick, they 
" not only forsook to pray with one another, 
" but they also altered their forms, by in- 
" terposition of new clauses, hymns, and col- 
" lects, and new rites and ceremonies ; only 
" those parts that combined kept the same 
" liturgy ; and indeed the same forms of 
" prayer, were so much the instrument of 
" union, that it was the only ligament of their 
c< society, (for their creeds, I reckon as part 
" of their liturgy, for so they ever were :) so 
" that this may teach us a little to guess, I 
M will not say into how many churches, 
" bu into how many innumerable atoms, 
" and minutes of churches, those Christians 
" must needs be scattered, who alter their 



* See Apology for Liturgy, p. 69. 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



41 



" forms according to the number of persons, 
if and the number of their meetings, every 
54 company having a new form of prayer at 
" every convention. And this consideration 
" will not be in vain, if we remember how 
" great a blessing unity in churches is, and 
" how hard to be kept, with all the arts in 
" the world ; and how every thing is powerful 
" enough for its dissolution. But that a pub- 
" lie form of liturgy, was the great instrument 
" of communion in the primitive church, appears 
" in this, that the xaW^o-K, or excommuni- 
" cation, was an exclusion, a communicatione 
" orationis, et conventus, et omnis sancti 
" commercii, from the participation of the 
" public meeting and prayers ; and therefore 
" the more united the prayer is, still it is the 
" greater instrument of union ; the authority 
" and consent, the publick spirit, and com- 
" mon acceptation, are so many degrees of a 
" more firm and indissoluble communion. 5 ' 

To give a complete analysis of this power- 
ful production might weary the reader : whilst 
by referring him to the original, a rich store 
of information is displayed to his understand- 
ing, in one of the ablest defences of liturgy 
that has ever appeared. 

Taylor had given his assistance to the son 



4 2 



THE LIFE OF 



of his friend, Lord Hatton, in preparing an 
edition of the Psalms, according to the au- 
thorized version : this appeared in the year 
1644, under the following title : " The Psalter 
" of David, with Titles and Collects according 
" to the matter of each Psalm, by the Right 
" Honourable Christopher Hatton f ." All that 
is new in this publication was the production 
of Taylor. The preface which bears his name, 
and the titles and collects adapted to each 
psalm, were the efforts of his mind. To these 
were added devotions for the help and assist- 
ance of all Christian people on all occasions 
and necessities ; which were published in the 
" fifth edition with additional," in the year 
1657. 

This 1 work, though now supplanted by the 
incomparable writings of Bishop Home, on 
the same subject, is still worthy of attention. 
Each collect imbibes the spirit of the psahn 
to which it is an appendage, and is expressed 
with the commanding simplicity and grace, 
which are so conspicuous in the writings of 
Taylor. Of the same description are the 
" Devotions," subjoined to the volume ; some 
of which are not original, s 

f In i2 mo ,Oxon. See Wood's Athen. Oxon. vol. 1. c. 223. 
e In the eighth edition enlarged, published by R. Roy- 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 43 

Taylor having retired into Wales, was soon 
joined, if not accompanied, by his family, 
which was probably living in Oxford previous 
to the declension of the royal interest, and 
appears to have been with him in November 
1 643, as he speaks (in his letter to Dr. Langs- 
dale, already inserted) of his wife's mother, in 
terms which shew that he was in the same 
place of residence with her and his children. 
It is remarkable, that he makes no allusion to 
his wife in this letter ; that she was then 
living, is apparent from the date of her mar- 
riage in 1639, and the number of children of 
which she was the mother. Biographers, in- 
deed, agree in speaking of her retirement 
with her husband into Wales. 

Here, being ejected from his preferment, 
and on the persecuted side, he was compelled 
to seek a subsistence by keeping school ; in 
which he was assisted by Mr William Wyatt \ 



ston in 1672, the name of " the Right Honourable Chr. 
Hatton" is omitted, and that of " Jer. Taylor, D. D. 
chaplain to King Charles 1st of blessed memory," in- 
serted in its place. 

h William Wyatt, of St. John's College, Oxford, was 
created B.D. at Oxford Sept. L2th 1661. He was born 
at Todenham in Gloucestershire, and was prevented taking 
his degree in arts, by the breaking out of the civil war. 
Afterwards he was assistant to Dr. Jer. Taylor when he 



44 



THE LIFE OF 



The place of their residence seems to have 
been at Newton 5 , whence Wyat dates his 
Epistle Dedicatory prefixed to "A New and 
" Easie Institution of Grammar k , which ap- 
" peared in 1647 * n Duodecimo, and was the 
" joint production of himself and Taylor. In 
" this work there are Two Epistles Dedica- 
" tory ; the first, in Latin, by Wyat, is ad- 
" dressed Honoratissimo Literarum Maecenati 
" ac Domino D. Christophero Hatton, Domino 
" Hatton de Kirby ; Regiae Majestati a 
u secretioribus consiliis, &c." and is dated 
" ex aedibus Collegii Newtoniensis, Cal. 
« Novem:" 



taught school in Carmarthenshire, and wrote, as was 
usually said (which he himself also acknowledged) " A 
" new and Easie Institution of Grammar, &c." which was 
published under Dr. Taylor's name. Afterwards Wyatt 
taught at Evesham, in Worcestershire, and at length as- 
sisted Mr. William Fuller, while he taught a private school 
at Twickenham, in Middlesex. And when Fuller became 
Bishop of Lincoln, he made him not only his chaplain, but 
also prebendary, and afterwards chantor of his cathedral. 
Which dignities he resigned in 168 1. He retired to Nun- 
Eaton, in Warwickshire, where he died in the house of 
Sir Ric. Newdigate, about 1686. Wood's Fasti, vol. 2. 

* A seat near Golden Grove. 

* Wood. Fasti. Oxon. p. 820. is inclined to attribute 
this work wholly to Wyat ; but the Epistles Dedicatory 
bear testimony to the contrary, and are followed by a copy 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



45 



The Second Epistle Dedicatory, which is in 
English, and by Taylor is addressed "To the 



of Latin verses written by F. Gregory, from Westminster 
school, and superscribed " In Grammaticam Reverendi 
*« viri domini, Jer. Taylori, S. Theologian Doctoris receng 
" editam." They are given in a subsequent note. 

The '* New and easie Institution of Grammar" is very 
scarce. A copy of it is preserved in the library of Caius 
College, Cambridge, D. h. 5. And as the book is not 
to be met with in the more public collections of the king- 
dom, some further account of it may be thought requisite. 
Prefixed is a frontispiece. Apollo seated on a mount 
and leaning on his lyre, holds out to the youth below 
a wreath of laurel. Beneath him is a scroll or sheet 
supported by two figures, Philoponus and Musaeus. On 
the sheet is inscribed " A new and easie Institution of 
" Grammar." 

" Expedire Grammatico 

" Etiamsi quaedam nesciat." quint. 

Beneath this on a shield of arms is a book open between 
three crowns, and on each side boys seated at their 
studies. The arms are those of the University of Oxford. 
On the opposite page are the following explanatory lines. 

u Explicatio Emblematis. 
M Cernis ut in solio sedeat sublimis Apollo, 

" Et cingat medium laurus utrinq. Deum ! 
'* En, ut grammatici venerati numen adorent, 

" Et cadat ad sacros pronus uterque pedes; 
" Nec pueri pietate carent ; dant vota magistris 

" Relligiosa suis, relligiosa Deo. 
" Singula grammatical quadrant, quam tradit Apollo. 

" Quam pueri discunt, grammaticiq. docent." 



4 6 



THE LIFE OF 



" most hopefull, Christopher Hatton Esquire, 1 
" son and heire to the right honourable the 
" Lord Hatton, of Kirby." As it is but little 
known and in a few years may possibly be en- 
tirely lost, and as it in some measure shews the 
mind of Taylor in adversity, and exhibits a 
specimen of the manner in which he directs 
his subject to the attention of a young man 
born to higher expectations, it is thought wor- 
thy of being recorded at length. 

« Sir, 

" All that know the infinite desires and the 
" many cares, my lord your most honoured 



The title page is as follows, " A new and easie Institu- 
<{ tion of Grammar. In which the labour of many yeares 
" usually spent in learning the Latine tongue, is shortned 
u and made easie." 

"In usum Juventutis Cambro-Britannicae. 

" Non obstant hae discipline per illas euntibus, sed 
" circa illas haerentibus. " quint. 

st London. Printed by J. Young, for R. Royston, and are 
" to be sold at the signe of the Angel, in Ivie Lane, 1647.^ 

1 He was created Viscount Hatton, by Charles II. and 
made Governor of Guernsey. He married Lady Cicely 
Tufton, third daughter of John Earl of Thanet ; by whom 
he had Ann, who became the wife of Daniel, Earl of Not- 
tingham ; from whom the present possessor of Kirby it 
descended. 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



47 



" father hath of your education in learning, 
" and exemplary piety, will expound this ad- 
" dress to you, as a compliance with those 
" thoughts and designs of his, by which he in- 
" tends hereafter to represent you to the world, 
44 to be a person like himself; that is, an able 
44 instrument of serving God, and promoting 
" the just and religious interests of God's vice- 
44 gerentand God's church. It is yet but earely 
H day with you, * Adhuc tibi messis in m herba:' 
44 but if we may conjecture by the most hope- 
" ful prognosticks of a cleare morning, we who 
46 are servants and relatives of my lord your fa^ 
" ther, promise to ourselves the best concern- 
44 ing you ; and those are, that you will be- 
44 come such as your honourable father intends 
44 you, who had rather secure to you a stock of 
" wisdom then of wealth, or of the most pom- 
44 pous honours. These sadnesses which cloud 
i 4 many good men at this present, have taught 
" us all, that nothing can secure a happinesse 
" or create one, but those inward excellencies, 
4 4 which like diamonds in the night sparkle in 
" despight of darkness. And give me leave to 
4< tell you this truth, that however nature and 
44 the lawes of the kingdome may secure you a 

m Adhuc tua messis in herba. Ovid Ep. xvii. 263. 
Taylor quoted from memory, and not always with nccuracy. 
1 1 



48 



THE LIFE OF 



" great fortune, and mark you with the exte- 
" rior character of honour, yet your fortune 
" will be but a load of baggage, and your ho- 
" nour an empty gayety, unlesse you build and 
" adorne your house as your father does, with 
" the advantages and ornaments of learning, 
" upon the foundation of piety. In order to 
" which give me leave to help you in laying 
" this first stone, which is cut small, and yet 
" according to the strictest rules of art, but 
" with a designe justly complying with your 
" end ; for it is contrived with no small bre- 
" vity, that since you are intended for a long 
" journey, to a great progresse of wisdom and 
" knowledge, you may not be stopped at your 
" setting out, but proceed like the sun, whose 
i 6 swiftness is just proportionable to the length 
" of his course. For, Sir, you will neither 
" satisfie your honourable father's care, nor 
" the expectation of your friends, nor the hum- 
" blest desires of your servants ; if you here- 
" after shall be wise and pious but in the even 
" ranke of other men. 

" We expect you to shew to the world an 
" argument, and make demonstration whose 
" sonne you are, that you may be learned even 
" to an example, pious up to a proverb ; and 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



49 



cc unlesse you excell those bounds which cus- 
u tome and indevotion hath made to bee the 
" terme and utmost aime of many of your 
" ranke, we shall onely say you are not vicious, 
" not unlearned; and what a poor character that 
" will be of you, yourself will be the best 
"judge, when you remember who and what 
" your father is. Sir, this freedome of expres- 
sion, I hope you will pardon; when you shall 
" know that it is the sense and desires of 
" one of the heartiest and devoutest of your 
" most honoured father's servants ; who hath 
" had the honour to have so much of his pri- 
" vacies communicated to him, as to be witness 
" of his cares, hissighes, his hopes and feares 
" concerning you ; and for the advantage and 
" promotion of your best interests * I hope. 
* 4 Sir, that neither this monition, nor the pre- 
u sent institution of the first, but the most ne- 
" cessary art and instrument of knowledge, 
** will become displeasing to you, especially if 
" you shall accept this testimony from me, that 
" it is done with much care and choice, and 
" though the scene lies in Wales, yet the repre- 
" sentment and design is one of the instances 
" for Kirby, and that it is the first and the least 
" testimony of the greatest service and affec- 

E 



50 THE LIFE OF 

" tion which can proceed from the greatest af- 
" fections and obligations ; such as are those ofi 
" Honoured Sir, 

" Your most obliged, 

" and affectionate servant, 

" J, T."n 

.' ' : U i " 

n This address is followed by the copy of verses already 

mentioned in a preceding note. They are superscribed, 

" In Grammaticam Reverendi viri domini Jer. Taylori, 

S. Theologian Doctorjs recens editam. 

En ut sacerdos, en ut orator potens, 

Magnusq. atlas ecclesiae, 
Quem santioris area? certamina, 

Campusq. nobilior decet, 
Duros labores pulvere ingrato locat, 

Inglorio in Circo pugil. 
Cur se redire patitur hsec in Taedia, 

Primasq. cunas artium ? 
An quod sacerdos sit Deo, in numerum gregis 

Adsciscit infantes sui ? 
Et dum puerulis format animos, sanctius 

Agit Theologium nullibi ? 
An quod sacerdos sit camsenis, infimas 

Musarum ad aras ex cub at ? 
An quod prolixa turgeant volumina, 

Nimiusq. grammatices labor, 
Dedit hanc synopsin et cathechesin brevem, 

Ceu januam Encyclopaedia? ? 
Quam, quo facilius quilibet succum puer 

Teneris labellis exprimat, 
Latium revellens corticem, vernaculo 

Sermone prudens editit. 
Sic literatas gentis antistes sacer, 

Patronus et stator togee. 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



The eminence of his learning and integrity of 
his principles procured him scholars ; who hav- 
ing, as it were, received instruction from this 
prophet in the wilderness, were transplanted 
to the universities, 11 



Quascunque vulgi inertis insanus furor 

Dehonestat artes, singulas 
Restaurat, ausus ferre censuram, et pati 

Rhonchum gravis plebeculae. 
Amat esse totus in eruditus scriniis 

Majorum, et archives patrum, 
Et si quid inde ornatius deprompserit, 

Si quid notatu dignius, 
Hoc omne nostrum fundit in gremium, sui 

Ditare genium seculi. 
Coetus Theologus Christianos instruit> 

Grammaticus ethnicos docet, 
Nullisq. clausus terminis, nec unius 

Parochiae Pomaeriis, 
Totum per orbem docta pervulgat sacra, 

Quasi literarum Apostolus. 

e Schola Regia Westmonast. 

F. GREGORY. 

Imprimatur, 

Jo. LANGLEY." 

° See Wood's Athen. Oxon. vol. 2. p. 282. 

p The tradition of the neighbourhood of Llanfihangel 
Aberbythick is, tha t Taylor instructed his pupils in any 
building or cottage he could hire for the purpose. But 
this does not correspond with Wood's account. For if so, 
it cannot be easily imagined how he could procure pu- 
pils of sufficient substance to proceed to the universities. 
E 2 



5* 



THE LIFE OF 



In this banishment from his home, he expe- 
rienced the mercy of Providence in the gene- 
rous patronage of Richard q Vaughan, earl of 
Carbery, who resided at Golden Grove r , the 

4 Richard, was the son of John Earl of Carbery, by 
Margaret daughter of Sir Gilly-Merrick, Kt. Being a 
firm friend to the royalists, he used all his interest in South 
Wales (which was great) in raising forces for the secu- 
rity of that quarter. And as a reward, was successively 
made lieutenant-general for the counties of Caenaarthen, 
Pembroke, and Cardigan ; and by letters patent at Oxford, 
25th Oct. 19 Cha. I. created Lord Vaughan of Emlyn. 
At the restoration he was constituted Lord President of 
Wales, and sworn of the Privy Council. 

r Golden Grove is seated in one of the finest parts of 
the celebrated vale 

" Of winding Towy, Merlin's fabled haunt," 
and near the banks of that beautiful river, which runs 
through the grounds. The surrounding country is highly 
picturesque. It is well wooded : but was much more so 
in the days of Taylor. Dynevor Castle, the seat of the 
ancient Princes of South Wales, with its fine hanging 
groves of venerable oaks, stands about a mile and a half to 
the north of Golden Grove ; Dryslwyn Castle, on a rocky 
hill in the middle of the vale is about three miles to the 
west, in full view of the principal front of the house ; and 
Grongar Hill forms a striking feature in the prospect, 
about a mile and a half to the north-west. It would be 
unpardonable not to bring to the reader's memory the 
highly poetical description of this vale given by Dyer. 

" Now, I gain the mountain's brow, 
What a landscape lies below ! 
No clouds, no vapours intervene, 
But the gay, the open scene 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



seat of his ancestors, in the parish of Llanfi- 
hangel Aberbythick, near Llandilo Fawr, in 
Caermarthenshire. 



Does the face of nature show, 
In all the hues of heaven's bow ! 
And, swelling to embrace the light, 
Spreads around beyond the sight. 

Old castles on the cliffs arise, 
Proudly tow'ring in the skies ! 
Rushing from the woods, the spires 
Seem from hence ascending fires ! 
Half his beams Apollo sheds 
On the yellow mountain-heads I 
Gilds the fleeces of the flocks ; 
And glitters on the broken rocks ! 

Below me trees unnumber'd rise, 
Beautiful in various dyes : 
The gloomy pine, the poplar blue, 
The yellow beech, the sable yew, 
The slender fir, that taper grows, 
The sturdy oak with broad-spread boughs. 
And beyond the purple grove, 
Haunt, of Phillis and of love ! 
Gawdy as the op'ning dawn, 
Lies a long and level lawn, 
On which a dark hill, steep and high, 
Holds and charms the wand'ring eye! 
Deep are his feet in Towy's flood, 
His sides are clothed with waving wood, 
And ancient towers crown his brow 
That cast an awful look below, &c" 

GRONGAR HILL, 

The natural beauties of Golden Grove are scarcely ex- 
ceeded in any country. In the edition of 1657, of the 
E 3 



54 



THE LIFE OF 



Under the shadow of this fostering tree, 
Taylor found a shelter from the heat, and a 
covert from the storm. He was received into 
the family and allowed to minister to the house- 
hold, having a stipend allotted him, as he him- 
self intimates 8 . 

Though like the great apostle he had a pro- 
fession, by which he rendered himself useful 
to others, and less burthensome to his noble 



1v[jl(3o\ov uQiKo-TloXifxtKov or a collection of Polemical 
Discourses," is a vignette, containing a view of Golden 
Grove, embosomed in woods, with the romantic hills in the 
back ground to the north-east, not ill delineated. 

Thepresenthouse is by no means suitable to the princely 
property attached to it. It stands on part of the ruins of 
the ancient mansion ; and some of the old walls remain, 
but not enough to convey any idea of the former place, 
which has been represented as approaching to magni- 
ficence. 

In the year 1729, the old manor house was burnt down, 
together with all the furniture, library, ( excepting two or 
three hundred volumes that the Duchess of Bolton, then 
proprietor, had in the house in London, ) ; grants, deeds, 
valuable writings, and family memorials. The name of 
Taylor is still held in great veneration in that neighbour- 
hood ; and there is a walk or avenue near the house, which 
to this day is called Taylor's walk. 

5 In his Dedication to this' nobleman, prefixed to his 
EwauTss or Course of Sermons. 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



55 



patron, yet he gratefully acknowledges that to 
this munificent person, under Providence, he 
owed " the quiet, the opportunities, and cir- 
" cumstances of preaching, as if God had so 
" interwoven the support of his affairs with his 
" patron's charity, that he would have no ad- 
♦ vantages pass upon him, but by his interest ; 
" and that he should expect no reward of the 
" issues of his profession, unless his lordship 
44 had a share in the blessing. By a spirit like 
Taylor's, " chastened but not killed, sorrowful 
" yet alway rejoicing, poor yet making many 
" rich," such beneficence was received with 
warmth answerable to the greatness of the oc- 
casion. And he gives thanks to Providence 
that his lot had fallen so fairly ; that he could 
serve his friend in that ministry, by which 
he was bound to serve God ; and that his gra- 
titude and his duty were thus united. 

But there are grounds for believing, that 
upon his first coming into Wales, the enmity 
of the opposite party pursued him, and re- 
duced him to great distress ; and that he was 
indebted to some more generous person of the 
prevailing side for his safety, previous to his 

'Ibid. 
E 4 



56 THE LIFE OF 

finding protection at Golden Grove. The 
reason for such a notion is contained in the 
opening of the dedication prefixed to his 4 6 Dis« 
" course of the Liberty of Prophesying," in 
which he tells his noble friend, Lord Hatton, 
that, " In the great storm which had dashed 
" the vessel of the church in pieces, he had 
" been cast upon the coast of Wales, and in a 
" little boat thought to have enjoyed that rest 
" and quietness, which in England in a greater 
" he could not hope for. Here he cast anchor, 
" and thinking to ride safely, the storm fol- 
" lowed him with so impetuous violence % that 
" it broke a cable, and he lost his anchor : and 
" here again he was exposed to the mercy 
" of the sea, and the gentleness of an element 
" that could neither distinguish things nor per- 
" sons. And but, that he who stilleth the ra- 
" ging of the sea, and the noise of his waves, 

u The sequestered situation of Golden Grove, was so far 
from securing it against the violence of the times, that 
Cromwell himself in his way to besiege Pembroke Castle, 
came there with a troop of horse, with the view of secu- 
ring the person of the Earl of Carberry ; but fortunately 
the Earl had intelligence of his approach, and retired to 
a farm house in a remote situation amongst the mountains, 
where he continued till the Protector had left the neigh- 
bourhood. Carlisle's Topograph. Diet, of Wales, art, 
Llanfihangel Aberby thick. 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



57 



"and the madness of the people, had provided 
" a plank for him, he had been lost to all the 
" opportunities of content or study. But he 
" knew not whether he had been more pre- 
" served by the courtesies of his friends, or the 
" gentleness and mercies of a noble enemy." 

But be this as it may or may not be thought 
credible, when " he had come ashore, he ga- 
" thered a few sticks to warm him, a few 
" books to entertain his thoughts and divert 
" them from the perpetual meditation of his 
" private troubles, and* if possible, from the 
V public dyscracy." 

But still he found it impossible to separate 
public concerns from the current of his thoughts ; 
and though deprived x of his own books, he en- 
tered upon the subject of the " Liberty of Pro- 
" phecying 5" which was published in quarto, 
in 1647, y with the title of ®sox yU e*A£>ctixi}. z 

* See the Epistle Dedicatory, prefixed to the " Liberty 
" of Prophecy ing." 

y See ColeMSS. 5882. art. 4. Lond. 

z Under this title in 1650, 2 vols. Lond. printed for R. 
Royston, were published, containing " 1. The Liberty of 
«' Prophecying, 1647. 2. Episcopacie, 1647. 3. The 
<l History of the Life and. Death of the ever blessed Jesus 
6 



58 



THE LIFE OF 



His motive for undertaking this notable 
work is given in the epistle prefixed to the 
" ivpfioxap HQiyto-noxtpiitov." " When," he says, 
" A persecution did arise against the church of 
" England, and that I intended to make a de- 
1 4 fensative for my brethren and myself, by 
" pleading for liberty of our consciences to 
" persevere in that profession which was war- 
" ranted by all the laws of God and our supe- 
" riors, some men were angry and would not 
" be safe that way,, because I had made the 
" roof of the sanctuary so wide, that more 
" might be sheltered under it than they had a 
" mind should be saved harmless ; men would 
" be safe alone or not at all, supposing that 
" their truth and good cause was war- 
" ranty enough to preserve itself ; and they, 
" thought true ; it was indeed warranty enough 
" against persecution, if men had believed it 
" to be truth ; but because we were fallen un- 
" der the power of our worst enemies (for 
" brethren turned enemies are ever the most 



" Christ. 4. An Apologie for authorised and set Forms 
" of Liturgie, 1649, together with a Sermon preached 
" at Oxon on the anniversary of the 5th of November, 
«< 1638. 

«' By Jer. Taylor, D. D. 
" Chaplaine in Ordinarie to his late Majestie." 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



59 



" implacable) they looked upon vis as men in 
" mispersuasion and error. And therefore I was 
" to defend our persons, that whether our cause 
" were right or wrong (for it would be sup- 
" posed wrong) yet we might be permitted in 
" liberty and impunity : but then the conse- 
" quent would be this, that if we when we 
" were supposed to be in error were yet to be 
" identified, then others also whom we thought 
" as ill of were to rejoice in the same freedom, 
" because this equality is the great instrument 
" of justice, and if we would not do to others as 
" we desired should be done to us, we were no 
" more to pretend religion, because we destroy 
" the law and the prophets. Of this some men 
" were impatient ; and they would have all the 
" world spare them, and yet they would spare 
" nobody. But because this is too unreason- 
" able , I need no excuse for my speaking to 
" other purposes. Others complained that it 
" would have evil effects, and all heresies would 
ff enter at the gate of toleration ; and because 
" I know that they would croud and throng in 
" as far as they could, I placed such guards and 
" restraints there as might keep out all un- 
" reasonable pretenders ; allowing none to en- 
" ter here that speak against the apostles creed, 



6o 



THE LIFE OF 



" or weakened the hands of government, or 
" were enemies to good life/* 

But in his Epistle Dedicatory prefixed to 
the piece itself, he enters more fully into the 
principles which moved him to undertake it. 

" The Liberty of Prophecying" was written 
in behalf of the clergy of the Church of Eng- 
land ; who at the time were generally excluded 
from their benefices, and forbidden to minister 
according to her liturgy. 

Harassed by the repeated failures of the 
royal cause, driven to seek an asylum in a 
remote part of the island, and feeling deeply 
the miseries of the church, (for " it grieved 
him to see her in the dust/') he stood forth 
to plead the cause of her injured ministry. 
And knowing that he had to contend with 
adversaries who would not patiently bear to 
hear of the superiority of her pretensions in 
form and doctrine to any they could produce, 
he rests his question upon a broader basis, and 
contends for her liberty, by insisting upon the 
freedom of all Christians to exercise their wor- 
ship, who do not offend in the principles 
already stated. How far, in his zeal for his 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



6r 



Injured brethren, he may have overstepped 
those bounds which are necessary for the pre- 
servation of spiritual government and unity 
in the church, (as was imputed to him at the 
time) is best left to the judgment of the church 
itself to determine ; at present it may be de- 
sirable to have the leading features of this 
treatise concentrated and brought into one 
view* 

Having stated in the Introduction the errors 
and mischiefs which were the cause of the 
disunion among Christians, at the time he was 
writing, he proceeds to shew how they must 
be discovered and removed. First, he treats 
of the nature of faith, and that its duty is com- 
pleted in believing the articles of the Apostle's 
Creed : he contends, that this symbol is the 
only sufficient, immoveable, unalterable, and 
unchangeable rule of faith, that admits no in- 
crease nor diminution ; but if the integrity and 
unity of this be preserved, in all other things 
men may take a liberty of enlarging their 
knowledge and preaching, according as they 
are assisted by the grace of God. * 

' See Liberty of Prophecying, i sect. 



62 



THE LIFE OF 



Next, he considers heresy and its nature, 
and that it is to be accounted according to the 
strict capacity of Christian faith, and not in 
opinions speculative, nor ever to pious per- 
sons ; and concludes, " whatsoever is either 
" opposite to an article of creed, or teaches 
" ill life, that's heresy ; but all those propo- 
" sitions which are extrinsical to these two 
" considerations, be they true or false, make 
" not heresy, nor the man an heretick." 

He then proceeds to observe the difficulty 
and uncertainty of arguments from scripture, 
in questions not simply necessary, nor literally 
determined; the same remark he applies to 
the expounding of scripture, and observes the 
insufficiency of traditions, and councils, and 
of the Pope, for that purpose. 

He points out the disability of fathers, or 
writers ecclesiastical, to determine questions 
with certainty and truth ; the incompetency 
of the church in its diffusive capacity to be 
judge of controversies, and the impertinency 
of that pretence of the spirit. He asserts the 
authority of reason, and that it, proceeding 
upon the best grounds, is the best judge ; and 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



63 



points out some causes of error in the exercise 
of reason, which are inculpate in themselves. 

Next he observes the innocence of error in 
a pious person ; the deportment to be used 
towards those w T ho disagree ; and when per- 
secution first commenced. After this, follow 
observations on the extent to which the church 
or government may act towards restraining _ ~ 
false or differing opinions ; whether it be law- 
ful for a prince to give toleration to several 
religions ; and, on compliance with disagree- 
ing persons, or weak consciences in general. 

The opinions of the Anabaptists fall next 
under review, and he fully answers every par- 
ticular of their pretensions and arguments, 
and contends that there may be no toleration 
of doctrines inconsistent with piety or the 
publick good. Then he considers how far the 
religion of the church of Rome is tolerable, 
and what is the duty of particular churches 
in allowing communion ; he asserts that par- 
ticular men may communicate with churches 
of different persuasions, and concludes by 
shewing how far they may do it. 

Such are the contents of " The Liberty of 



6 4 



THE LIFE OF 



Prophecying," and there are few writings in 
which learning and modesty, charity and ar- 
gument, are more happily blended. 

As the government of England has subse- 
quently acted upon the same principles as are 
here maintained, any observation upon them 
would at present be superfluous. It may not, 
however, be improper to remark, that readers 
unskilled in controversial writings, in perusing 
this celebrated treatise, would do well to bear 
in mind, that there is a wide difference between 
toleration and approbation of tenets ; and that 
this great author is only pleading for lenity 
towards the persons of those who differ from 
one another, and not proposing their several 
opinions to our choice as matters of indiffer- 
ence. He himself rejoiced in being a member 
of the church of Christ, as it is established in 
England, whose tenets and ordinances he ad- 
mired above those of any church on earth. 

But, whilst such were his sentiments, he 
would not deny toleration to any persons that 
differed from him, except to such as held 
doctrines against the foundation of faith, or 
contrary to good life and the laws of obe- 
dience, or destructive to human society, and 



JEREMY TAYLOR* 



65 



the public and just interests of bodies po- 
litic. a 

' Taylor closes this treatise with the following 
passage, which is inserted in the folio edition 

of the ZvpfioXoi/ HQixo-UoAspiytov and XvpfioXev 050- 

hoyrxov, but is not met wfth in all the impres- 
sions of the Liberty of Prophecying. " I end 
" with a story which I find in the Jews* 
" books : when Abraham sat at his tent 
" door, according to his custom, waiting to 
" entertain strangers, he espied an old man, 
" stooping and leaning on his staff, weary 
** with age and travel, coming towards him, 
4< who was an hundred years of age ; he re- 
" ceived him kindly, washed his feet, pro- 
" vided supper, caused him to sit down ; but 
" observing that the old man eat and prayed 
" not, nor begged for a blessing on his meat, 
" asked him, why he did not worship the 
« 6 God of heaven? The old man told him, 
" that he worshipped the fire only, and ac- 
" knowiedged no other god; at which answer 
" Abraham grew so zealously angry, that he 
" thrust the old -man out of his tent, and ex- 

a In libro de Libertate Prophetandi ssepe disputat non 
quae ipse sentiat, sed quo optimd modo aliorum errores 
causari queant. In Grovii Resp. ad Celeuama, p. 80. 

F 



66 



THE LIFE OE 



" posed him to all the evils of the night, and 
" an unguarded condition. When the old 
" man was gone, God called to Abraham, 

" and asked him where the stranger was ; he 

" replied, I thrust him away because he did 

" not worship thee : God answered him, I 

" have suffered him these hundred years, al- 

" though he dishonoured me, and couldest 

" not thou endure him one night, when he 

" gave thee no trouble ? Upon this saith the 

" story, Abraham fetched him back again, 

" and gave him hospitable entertainment and 

" wise instruction: " Go thou, and do like- 

" wise, and thy charity will be rewarded by 

" the God of Abraham." b 

Upon this story is founded the celebrated 
dialogue on religious toleration, though the 
author has not thought proper to acknowledge 
the original from which he copied. 

b ^Vfx^gXov H&xo • Tro^tjuuxoy. p. 606* 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



6 7 



CHAP. IV. 

FROM 1647 TO 1651. 

T5EING now settled in the capacity of mi« 
nister to the family at Golden Grove, 
and having the society of his wife and chil- 
dren, " the ruins of his little fortune being 
" repaired by the charity and nobleness of the 
" house in which he moved, and his persecu- 
" tion relieved and comforted," by the ex- 
emplary piety and gracious deportment of 
Frances Countess of Carbery, Taylor pos- 
sessed freedom of mind, not only to attend to 
his professional duties, but to bring before the 
public other fruits of his learning and indus- 
try. His next production was, " The Great 
Exemplar," in the Dedication to the first part 
of which, he speaks of his retirement, of his 
living in the religion and fear of God, and in 
obedience to the King ; and at the same time 
he declares himself, in writing this work, to 
be desirous of putting " a portion of the holy 
" fire into a repository, which might help to 
" re-kindle the incense, when it should please 

F 2 



68 



THE LIFE OF 



" God religion should return, and all his ser- 
" vants sing, 4 In covertendo captivitatem 
" Sion' with a voice of Eucharist. 1 ' a 

From these expressions may be inferred, 
not only that he was now in his retreat in 
Wales, but that the King was not yet brought 
to the scaffold : and as the Liberty of Prophe- 
cying was published in 1647, and the murder 
of the King took place in January 1648-9, the 
date of this publication is ascertained with 
exactness to be during that interval. b 

His great purpose in this work is, " to ad- 
" vance the necessity, and to declare the 

• See the epistle dedicatory prefixed to the third part 
of the Great Exemplar. 

In the Rule and Exercises of Holy Living, Taylor 
quotes " The Great Exemplar," see Holy Living, c.4. s.7. 
margin. And it is ascertained by the list of books pub- 
lished at the end of the first edition of the Rule and Ex- 
ercises of Holy Dying, which appeared in 1651, that the 
following works were then published : Rule of Holy 
Living ; Liberty of Prophecying ; Episcopacy asserted, 
4to. ; History of the Life and Death of Jesus Christ, 4to.; 
An Apology for Liturgy, 4to. ; A Sermon at Oxon on 
the 5th of Nov., and twenty-eight Sermons, preached at 
Golden Grove, being for the summer half year, in fol. 
In the SsoXoyta iKXvKTiKn it is placed between the treatise 
of " Episcopacie 1647," and " An Apologie for autho- 
«' rised and set forms of Liturgie, 1649." This is an ad- 
ditional support to my supposition, that it was published 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



r * manner and parts of a good life to invite 
" some persons to the consideration of all the 
" branches of it, by intermixing something of 
" pleasure with the use ; and others by such 
" portions, as would better entertain them 
" than a romance.*' 

" I have followed," he tells us, " the de~ 
" sign of scripture, and have given milk to 
" babes, and for stronger men stronger meat; 
" and in all I have despised my own reputa- 
" tion by so striving to make it useful, that I 
" was less careful to make it strict in retired 
" senses, and embossed with unnecessary but 
" graceful ornaments." To this he strictly 
adheres in the execution of it. He carries on 
his narrative with simplicity, draws his prac- 
tical conclusions with plainness, and closes 
each chapter with a prayer adapted to the 
subject. 

His work is divided into three parts, the 
first of which is dedicated to his noble friend 



during the year 1648 ; where it was brought out I have 
not been able to ascertain. The best edition is that of 
1653, printed by James Flesher, for Richard Royston s 
at the signe of the Angel in Ivie-lane, London. 

* 3 



7o 



THE LIFE OF 



Lord Hatton ; the second to Mary % Countess 
of Northampton ; and the third to d Frances, 

c Mary, Countess of Northampton, was the daughter 
of Sir Francis Beamont, and relict of Spencer, Earl of 
Northampton, who was killed at Hopton-heath, near 
Stafford, in the royal cause. By him she had six sons, 
of whom the youngest was Henry, afterwards Bishop of 
London. From some expressions in the dedication pre- 
fixed to the second part, it seems that her husband had 
entertained the notion of writing a work similar to the 
present, had not death prevented it; and that Taylor 
profited by the materials his lordship had collected for 
that purpose. 

d Frances, Countess of Carbery, was the daughter and 
one of the co-heiresses of Sir John Altham, of Orbey, in 
the county of Hertford, Kt. and was a lady of most ex- 
emplary piety and virtue. She died October the 9th, 
1650, at her house at Golden Grove, and was buried in 
the church of Llanfihangel Aberby thick, in which parish 
the house is situate. 

In the third edition of this work, the third part has two 
epistles dedicatory prefixed to it. The first to the lady 
now described ; the second to her successor " Alice, 
" Countess of Carbery." This lady was the eleventh 
daughter of John Egerton, first Earl of Bridgewater, by 
the Lady Frances, daughter and one of the co-heiresses 
of Ferdinand, Earl of Derby. She was the third «wife of 
Richard, Earl of Carbery ; and was fortunate above her 
sex in the honour paid to her, it being the lot of few to 
have two persons of the highest genius, either of her own 
or any other nation, contributing their powers to record 
her name; namely, Milton in his Comus, (of which she 
is The Lady, ) and Taylor in the dedication prefixed to 
the third part of his " Great Exemplar," 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



7 I 



Countess of Carbery, of whom he, on all 
occasions, expresses the highest character ; 
and at whose obsequies he preached with the 
pathos and eloquence of Chrysostom. 

In so great esteem were the writings of 
Taylor held, both during his life and after his 
decease, that selections were made from them 
and published under various titles. Among 



She seems to have been worthy of their commendation; 
for another muse, much beloved in her day, and not al- 
together unworthy of regard at present, paid her tribute. 
J allude to the matchless Orinda, Mrs. Katherine Philips ; 
who in her volume of poems, addresses the countess " at 
" her coming into Wales," and concludes with these 
complimentary verses : 

" Then much above all zealous injury, 
" Receive this tribute of our shades from me, 
" While your great splendours, like eternal spring, 
" To these sad groves such a refreshment bring, 
" That the despised country may be grown, 
" And justly too, the envy of the town : 
" That so when all mankind at length have lost 
" The virtuous grandeur which they once did boast, 
" Of you, like pilgrims, they may here obtain 
i{ Worth to recruit the dying world again." 
To Alice, Countess of Carbery, 
At her coming into Wales. 

Poems by Orinda. Fol. p. 16. 
To this lady also, Henry Lawes, the friend of Milton* 
dedicated his " Ayres and Dialogue." 

F 4 



72 



THE LIFE OF 



these are two sermons 6 ; the one from Matthew, 
1 1. 30. entitled, " Christ's yoke an easie yoke," 
and the other, " The gate of heaven a strait 
" gate," from the 13th chap, of Luke, 23, 24, 

The first of these is a transcript of " Dis- 
" course the fifteenth," in the third part of 
" The Great Exemplar," and contains this 
specimen of the admirable manner in which 
he treats of points relating to social life. 

" Peace was so designed by the holy Jesus, 
" that he framed all his laws in complyance 
" with that design. He that returns good 
" for evil, a soft answer to the asperity of his 
" enemy, kindness to injuries, lessens the 
" contention always, and sometimes gets a 
" friend ; and when he does not, he shames 
" his enemy. Every little accident in a fa- 
" mily, to peevish and angry persons, is the 

e Published in i2 m0 . Prefixed to the volume is a head 
of Taylor within an oval. He is represented in his gown 
and scarf, with a falling collar ; his hair curling back, 
and a coif on his head. Round the verge are these 
words: " Dr, Jer. Taylor, obiit Aug. 13, 1667." and at 
the bottom, M F. H. Van Hove, fee. Wee speak not 
«* great things, but live them ; variety in opinion and 

unity in affection are not inconsistent. Printed for 
'« F. Smith, at the Elephant and Castle, Cornhill." 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



73 



" matter of a quarrel, discomposes the peace 
" of the house, and sets it on fire, and no 
44 man can tell how far that may burn ; it 
" may be to a dissolution of the whole fabric. 
44 But whosoever obeys the laws of Jesus, 
44 bears with the infirmities of his relatives 
44 and society, seeks with sweetnesses to re- 
" medy what is ill, and to prevent what it 
" may produce, and throws water upon a 
44 spark; and lives sweetly with his wife, affec- 
44 tionately with his children, providently and 
44 discreetly with his servants, and they all 
44 love the major-domo, and look upon him as 
44 their parent, their guardian, their friend, 
44 their patron, their providetor." 

There has been a notion that the substance 
of the 44 Ductor Dubitantium" was contained 
in a course of sermons preached at Upping- 
ham ; but this is less likely to be founded in 
fact, than that the contents of that course 
were afterwards embodied in the 44 Great 
Exemplar," the style of which is not ill 
adapted to the pulpit, according to the me- 
thod of the times in which it was written ; 
whereas that of the 44 Ductor Dubitantium/* 
from such a place, would scarcely be toler- 
ated. 



74 



THE LIFE Ol 



In the " Great Exemplar" he enlarges upon 
doctrines with all the simplicity and earnest- 
ness of the preacher ; and labours not merely 
to satisfy the doubtful, but to stimulate the 
believer to exertion through all the exercises 
of the Christian life ; encouraging, by the 
certainty of divine assistance, those who will 
sincerely embrace them; and banishing, by 
irresistible argument, the false hope of those 
who would defer that return to the service of 
their creator, without which no person may 
entertain the smallest expectation of future 
happiness. How forcibly does he press this 
important consideration, " that there is a re- 
" pentance which is to be repented of, and 
" that is, a repentance which is not produc- 
" tive of fruits of amendment of life ; that 
" there is a period set down by God in his 
44 judgment ; and that many who have been 
44 profane, as Esau was, are reduced into the 
44 condition of Esau, and there is no place left 
44 for their repentance, though they seek it 
44 carefully with tears; that they who have 
44 long refused to hear God calling them to 
44 repentance, God will refuse to hear them 
44 calling for grace and mercy ; that 4 he will 
" laugh 5 at some men 4 when their calamity 
" cometh that the five foolish virgins ad- 

i 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



75 



" dressed themselves at the noise of the bride- 
" groom's coming, and begged oil, and went 
" out to buy oil, and yet for want of some 
" more time, and an early diligence, came 
" too late, and were shut out for ever 5 that 
" it is no where revealed that such late endea- 
" vours, and imperfect practises, shall be ac- 
" cepted ; that God hath made but one 
" covenant with us in Jesus Christ, which is 
" faith and repentance consigned in baptism ; 
" and the signification of them and the pur- 
" pose of Christ is, that we should ' hence- 
" forth no more serve sin,' but mortify and 
" kill him perpetually, and destroy his king- 
" dom, and extinguish, as much as in us lies, 
" his very title ; that we should 6 live holily, 
" justly, and soberly in this present world, 
" in all holy conversation and godliness ;* 
" and that either we must be continued in or 
" reduced to this state of holy living, and ha- 
" bitual sanctity, or we have no title to the 
" promises; that every degree of recession 
" from the state of grace Christ first put us 
" in, is a recession from our hopes, and an 
" insecuring our condition, and we add to 
" our confidence only as our obedience is re- 
" stored : all this is but a sad story to a dying 



7 6 



THE LIFE OF 



" person, who sold himself to work wicked- 

" ness in an habitual iniquity, and aversion 

" from the conditions of the holy covenant, 

" in which he was sanctified. 

" And certainly it is unreasonable to plant 

" all our hopes of heaven upon a doctrine that 

" is destructive of all piety, which supposes 

« us in such a condition, that God hath been 

" offended at us all our life long, and yet that 

" we can never return our duties to him, 

" unless he will unravel the purposes of his 

" predestination, or call back time again, and 

" begin a new computation of years for us ; 

" and if he did, it would be still as uncertain. 

" For what hope is there to that man, who 

" hath fulfilled all iniquity, and hath not 

" fulfilled righteousness ? Can a man live to 

" the devil and die to God ? sow to the 

" flesh and reap to the spirit? hope God 

" will in mercy reward him who hath served 

" his enemy ? Sure it is ; the doctrine of 

« the avail of a death-bed repentance can 

" not be reconciled with God's purposes and 

" intentions to have us live a good life, for it 

" would reconcile us to the hopes of heaven 

" for a few thoughts, or words, or single 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 77 

I 

44 actions, when our life is done. It takes 
44 away the benefit of many graces, and the 
44 use of more, and the necessity of all." f 

A far different course does this great Chris- 
tian philosopher point out, in the holy ex- 
ample displayed in 44 the Life of Christ," 
demonstrating that, 44 He is truly wise, that 
44 knows best to promote the best end, that 
44 which he is bound to desire, and is happy, 
44 if he obtains, and miserable if he misses ; 
44 and that is the end of a happy eternity: 
44 which is obtained by the only means of 
44 living according to the purposes of God, 
44 and the prime intentions of nature ; natural 
44 and prime reason, being now all one with 
44 Christian religion. But then I shall only 
44 observe, that this part of wisdom, and the 
44 excellency of its secret and deep reason is 
44 not be discerned, but by experience: the 
44 propositions of this philosophy being (as in 
44 many other) empirical, and best found out 
44 by observation of real and material events. 
44 So that 1 may say of spiritual learning, as 
44 Quintilian said of some of Plato's books: 
44 Nam Plato cum in aliis quibusdam, turn 
" praecipue in Timaeo, ne intelligi quidem, 



f Great Exemplar, p. 294. Edit. 1653. fol. 



78 



THE LIFE OF 



" nisi ab iis qui hanc quoque partem disci- 
" plinae(musicse) diligenter perceperint, potest. 
" The secrets of the kingdom of heaven are 
" not understood truly and throughly but by 
" the sons of the kingdom ; and by them too 
" in several degrees, and to various purposes \ 
" but to evil persons the whole system of this 
" wisdom is insipid and flat, dull as the foot 
" of a rock, and unlearned as the elements of 
" our mother tongue. But so are mathema- 
" tics to a Scythian boor, and music to a 
« camel." 2 

The classical scholar will derive no inferior 
gratification from hearing this great master 
of Christian practice, declare in favour of 
his pursuit ; whilst, at the same time, he points 
out its bearing upon the pure code of the 
Gospel. " I consider," he says, " that the 
" wisest persons, and those who know how to 
" value and entertain the more noble facul- 
" ties of their soul, and their precious hours, 
" take more pleasure in reading the produc- 
" tions of those old wise spirits, who pre- 
" served natural reason and religion in the 
" midst of heathen darkness, (such as are 
" Homer, Euripides, Orpheus, Pindar, and 



* See Preface to the Great Exemplar, 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



79 



" Anacreon, jEschylus, and Menander, and 
" all the Greek poets ; Plutarch and Polybius, 
" Xenophon, and all those other excellent 
" persons of both faculties (whose choicest 
" dictates are collected by Stoba^us) Plato and 
" his scholars, Aristotle, and after him Por- 
" phyry, and all his other disciples ; Pytha- 
" goras and his, especially Hierocles : all the 
" old Academics and Stoics within the 
" Roman schools) more pleasure, I say, in 
" reading these, than the triflings of many of 
" the later schoolmen, who promoted a petty 
" interest of a family, or an unlearned opinion 
" with great earnestness, but added nothing to 
" Christianity, but trouble, scruple and vex- 
" ation. And from hence, I hope, that they 
" may the rather be invited to love and con- 
" sider the rare documents of Christianity, 
" which certainly is the greatest treasure-house 
" of those excellent, moral, and perfective 
" discourses, which with much pains and 
" greater pleasure we find respersed and 
" thinly scattered in all the Greek and Roman 
" poets, historians, and philosophers h . 5> Such 
is the sentiment and style of Taylor in the 
" Great Exemplar," a style exhibiting less 

k See -Preface to the Great Exemplar. 



8o 



THE LIFE OF 



exuberance of metaphor, and excursion of 
thought, than in many of his other writings. 

His publications now began to multiply 
rapidly ; and in the year 1650 he brought out 
" The Rule and Exercises ol Holy Living/' 
a work that has gone through as many 1 editions, 
as any devotional writing in the English lan- 
guage, and has always been highly esteemed 
for its utility in conducting devotion, and 
promoting regularity. The great aim of its 
author was to raise and promote practical 
piety, a pursuit for which he possessed the 
highest qualification, both from his consum- 
mate knowledge of mankind and the Gospel, 
and from his own exemplary practice. Hence, 
his prayers (out of which a liturgy k little in- 
ferior to that of the Church of England might 
be selected) are so well adapted to the various 
necessities of the human character, and are ex- 
pressed with such conformity to the language 
of Scripture, and with such fervour of piety, 

' The twenty-eighth edit, was published in 18 10. The 
1 st edit, was printed for R. Royston at the Angel in Ivie 
Lane, Lond. 1650. See Caius Coll. Camb. Lib. D. N. 51. 

k A collection of prayers from Taylor's works has 
lately been made by the Rev. Samuel Clapham of Christ's 
Church in Hants. 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



8l 



as can seldom fail to produce, even in a luke- 
warm petitioner, a very beneficial effect. 1 

Though a work like " the Rule and Exer- 
" cises of Holy Living," cannot lose its in- 
fluence in any age, it was particularly wanted 
in that in which it was produced. " He 
" had lived to see religion painted upon ban* 
" ners, and thrust out of churches, and the 
" temple turned into a tabernacle, and that 
" tabernacle made ambulatory, and covered 
" with skins of beasts and torn curtains, 
" and God to be worshipped not as he is the 
" Father of our Lord Jesus Christ," " nor as 
" the God of peace \" " but owned rather as 
" the Lord of Hosts." " Now men were apt 
" to prefer a prosperous error before an af- 
" flicted truth ;" " and there were some in- 
H terested persons who added scorn to the 
« afflictions of the Church of England, and 
" because she was oppressed by men, called 
** her forsaken of the Lord;" " and her 
" solemn assemblies being scattered, thought 

1 Ad vitam Christianam recte instituendam plurima 
sunt a Taylero scripta, quae omnia, propter doctrinam 
multifariam, quendamque ingenii florem, a multis noil 
sine magna voluptate, nec minore cum fructu leguntur, 
Vid. Respons. Robt. Grovii ad Lib. qui inscri. Celeusma, 
&c. Lond. 1640. 4to p. 80. 



82 



THE LIFE OF 



" religion was lost, and the church divorced 
" from God." m 

These were reasons sufficient to invite Tay- 
lor to publish this rule for the conduct of his 
afflicted brethren ; " who could not then 
u always have a prophet at their need, nor 
" be suffered to go up to the House of the Lord 
" to inquire of the appointed oracles." a 

He divides his work into four chapters; 
commencing with considerations on the gene- 
ral instruments and means conducing to a 
holy life ; treating next of Christian charity, 
then of Christian justice, and last of Chris- 
tian Religion. Under these he dwells upon 
the care of time, purity of intention, and the 
presence of God. He defines sobriety, tem- 
perance, chastity, humility, modesty, and con- 
tentedness. He treats of obedience to supe- 
riors ; of provision of that part of justice 
which is due from superiors to inferiors, of 
civil contracts, and of restitution. He con- 
siders the internal actions of Religion, namely, 
faith, hope and charity; and enlarges upon 

» Epistle Dedicatory prefixed to the Rule and Exer- 
cises of Holy Living. 
• Ibid, 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



83 



its external actions, which are reading or 
hearing the Scriptures, fasting, and keeping 
festivals. And concludes by observations upon 
the mixed actions of Religion ; of which are 
prayer, alms, repentance, and the participation 
of the sacrament. 

Throughout this w T ork he exhibits the hand 
of a master, managing the reader with such 
dexterity that he keeps him in perpetual 
control. The evil consequences of vicious 
habits are drawn with inimitable strength. If 
drunkenness be the subject, it is brought be- 
fore the mind, as that which " besots and 
" hinders the actions of the understanding, 
" making a man brutish in his passions, and 
ff a fool in his reason ; and differs nothing from 
" madness, but that it is voluntary, and so 
" is an equal evil in nature, and a worse in 
M manners. It takes off all the guards, and 
" lets loose the reins of all those evils to which 
" a man is by his nature or by his evil customs 
" inclined, and from which he is restrained 
f* by reason and severe principles. Drunken* 
46 ness calls off the watchmen from the towers 5 
" and then all the evils that can proceed 
*' from a loose heart, and an untied tongue, 
46 and a dissolute spirit, and an unguarded, 
g 2 



8 4 



THE LIFE OF 



" unlimited will, all that we may put upon 
" the accounts of drunkenness." 

In treating of the more delicate points of 
morality, when we are wondering at his plain- 
ness, he interrupts the course of thought by 
a transition so sudden and impressive, that 
the courage of the modest revives, and wan- 
tonness stands abashed at the sound of the 
dignified apostrophe — " Reader stay — and 
" read not the advices of the following sec- 
" tion, unless thou hast a chaste spirit, or 
" desirest to be chaste, or at least art apt to 
" consider whether you ought or no." p 

Or if the milder virtues are to be incul- 
cated, he steals our consent and approbation 
of them, whilst he teaches, that " all the 
" world, all that we are, and all that we have, 
" our bodies and our souls, our actions and 
" our sufferings, our conditions at home, our 
" accidents abroad, our many sins and our 
" seldom virtues, are so many arguments to 
" make our souls dwell low in the deep valleys 
" of humility." 11 

Rule and Exercises of Holy Living, p. 6o. 12th 
edit. 8vo. 

p Rule and Exercises of Holy Living, p. 65. 
• Rule and Exercises of Holy Living, p. 82. 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



85 



Taylor dedicates his work to the Earl of 
Carbery. He had scarcely paid this tribute 
to his patron, when he was called upon to ex- 
ercise his own firmness and administer con- 
solation at Golden Grove. The life of the 
EarPs amiable Countess was now drawing to 
a close, of which he gives the following relation* 
" When death drew near, before it made any 
" show upon her body, or revealed itself by 
" a natural signification, it was conveyed to 
" her spirit: she had a strange secret per* 
" suasion that the birth of the child, of 
" which she was then pregnant, should be 
" her last scene of life r and " so it was, 
" that the thought of death dwelt long with 
" her, and grew from the first steps of fancy and 
" fear to a consent, from thence to a strange 
" credulity, and expectation of it ; and with- 
" out the violence of sickness she died, as if 
" she had done it voluntarily, and by design, 
" and for fear her expectation should have 
" been deceived, or that she should seem 
" to have had an unreasonable fear, or appre- 
" hension; or rather, (as one said of Cato) 
" sic abiit e vita ut causam moriendi nactum 
" se esse gauderet." s 
T Funeral Sermon on the Countess of Carbery. p. 13 

Fol. Ev»a«TOj. 1678. 

• Cic. Tusc. Qusest. Lib. 1. s.30. 

G 3 



86 



THE LIFE OF 



This exemplary person died on the oth of 
October 1650, and was interred in the neigh- 
bouring church of Llanfihangel Aberbythyck ; 
where Taylor delivered a funeral sermon, in a 
strain of eloquence that has seldom been 
surpassed, and which he shortly after pub- 
lished \ with the following dedication to the 
earl. 

* The first edition is 4to. Lond. 1650. Brit. Mus. 
It appears that the Earl of Carbery intended to erect a 
monument to her memory — and that Taylor wrote the 
inscription for it, of which the following is a cop)'. The 
monument was never erected. But the epitaph is pre- 
served before the Funeral Sermon, with which it was pub- 
lished. 

Pietati & Memoriae Sacrum. 
Monumentum doloris singularis, pads fati & conditionis posuit 
Richardus Comes Carberiensis sibi vivo, &' mortem nec exoptanti 
Nec metuemi : Et dilectissimae suae Cunjugi Franciscae Comitissae in fiore 
iEtatis casibus puerperii raptae ex amplexibus sanctissimi amoris. Fuit 
Ilia (descendat Lchrymula Amice Lector) fuit inter castissimas prima, 
Inter Conjuges amantissima, Mater optima : placidi oris, severae vhtutis- 
conversationis suavissimae ; vultum hilarem fecit bona 
conscientia, amabilem forma plusquam Uxoria. Claris 
orta Natalibus, fortunam non mediocrem 
habuit ; erat enim cum Unica Germana 
Haeres exasse. Annos XIIJ, Menses IV, 
supra Biduum vixit in Sanctissimo Matri- 
monio cum suo quern effusissime dilexit, 
& sancte observavit,* quern novit Pruden- 
tissimum, sensit Amantissimum, virum 
optimum vidit & laetata est. Enixa pro — 
lem numerosam, pulchram, ingenuam, 
formae & Spei optimae ; quatuor Masculos, 
Franciscum Dominum Vaughan, Johannem, 
Althamum, quartum immaturum ; faeminas 
sex, Dominam Franciscam, Elizabethas dua#, 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



87 



" To the Right Honourable and truly Noble 
<c Richard Lord Vaughan, Earl of Carbery, 
" Baron Emlin and Molinger, Knight of the 
" Honourable Order of the Bath. 

" My Lord, 

I am not ashamed to profess that I pay 
" this part of service to your lordship most un- 
u willingly : for it is a sad office to be the chief 
" minister in a house of mourning, and to pre- 
" sent an interested person with a branch of 
" cypress and a bottle of tears. And indeed, 
" my lord, it were more proportionable to your 
46 needs to bring something that might alleviate 
" or divert your sorrow, than to dress the hearse 
" of your dear lady, and to furnish it with such 
" circumstances, that it may dwell with you, 



Mariam, Margaretam, & Althamiam (post 
cujus partum paucis diebus obdormiit.) 
Totam prolem Ma'sculam (si somas abor- 
tivum ilium) et faeminas omnes, preeter Elizabethan! 
alteram, & Mariam, superstites reliquit. Pietatis 
adeoque spei plena obiit ix Octobr. M.DCL. Lachrymis suorum 
omnium tota irriqua conditur in hoc cosmeterio, ubi cum Deo Opt. 
Max. visum fuerit sperat se reponendum Conjux msestissimus : interea 
temporis luctui, sed pietati magis %'acat, ut in suo tempore simul laetemur 
Par tam Pium, tam Nobile, tam Christianum in gremio Jesu, usque dum 
Coronse adornentur aecipiendse in Adventu Domini. — Amen. 

Cum ille vita defunctus fuerit, Marmor loquetor, quod adlmc tacere 
jubet virtus Modesta : interim vitam ejus observa, et leges quod postea 
hie inscriptum amabunt & colent Posteri. 

ora & abi. 



04 



88 



THE LIFE OF 



" and lie in your closet, and make your prayers 
" and your retirements more sad and full of 
" weepings. But because the divine Provi- 
" dence hath taken from you a person, so excel- 
" lent, a woman so fit to converse with angels 
" and apostles, with saints and martyrs, give 
" me leave to present you with her picture, 
" drawn in little and in water colours, sullied 
" indeed with tears and the abrupt accents of a 
" real and consonant sorrow ; but drawn with 
" a faithful hand, and taken from the life : and 
" indeed it were too great a loss to be deprived 
" of her example and of her rule, of the origi- 
" nal and of the copy too. The age is very 
" evil and deserved her not ; but because it is 
" so evil, it hath the more need to have such 
" lives preserved in memory to instruct our 
" piety, or * upbraid our wickedness. For 
" now that God hath cut this tree of paradise 
" down from its seat of earth, yet so the dead 
" trunk may support a part of the declining 
(t temple, or at least serve to kindle the fire on 
" the altar. My lord, I pray God this heap of 
" sorrow may swell your piety till it breaks into 
" the greatest joys of God and of religion: and 
" remember when you pay a tear upon the 
" grave, or to the memory of your lady (that 
" dear and most excellent soul) that you pay 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 89 

" two more: one of repentance for those things 
" that may have caused this breach ; and an- 
" other of joy for the mercies of God to your 
" dear departed saint, that he hath taken her 
" into a place where she can weep no more* 
" My lord, I think / shall, so long as I live, 
" that is, so long as I am 

r< Your lordship's 

" Most humble servant, 

« Jer. Taylor/ 5 



He grounds his discourse upon these words, 
out of 1 Sam. xiv. 14. " For we must needs 
" die, and are as water spilt on the ground 
" which cannot be gathered up again : neither 
" doth God respect any person : yet doth he 
" devise means that his banished be not ex- 
" pelled from him." On this occasion, all the 
energies of this great moralist were summoned; 
and though their extent can only be known by 
a careful perusal of the whole, yet something of 
their strength may be ascertained by such pas- 
sages as the following. 

" No man is surer of to-morrow than the 
" weakest of his brethren. There are sicknesses 
¥ that walk in darkness, and there are exter- 
(* minating angels that fly wrapt up in the cur- 



9° 



THE LIFE OF 



" tains of immateriality and an uncommuni- 
44 eating nature ; whom we cannot see, but we 
" feel their force and sink under their sword, 
44 and from Heaven the veil descends that 
" wraps our heads in the fatal sentence. There 
44 is no age of man but it hath proper to itself 
" some posterns and out-lets for death, besides 
44 those infinite and open ports out of which 
44 myriads of men and women every day pass 
. " into the dark, and the land of forgetfulness. 
44 Infancy hath life but in effigie, or like a 
44 spark dwelling in a pile of wood : the candle 
44 is so newly lighted, that every little shaking 
44 of the taper, anc| every ruder breath of air 
44 puts it out, and it dies. 

44 Let us not think to be excepted or de- 
" ferred : if beauty, or wit, or youth, or noble- 
44 ness, or wealth, or virtue, could have been a 
44 defence, and an excuse from the grave, we 
44 had not met here to-day to mourn upon the 
44 hearse of an excellent lady : and God only 
44 knows for which of us next the mourners 
44 shall go about the streets or weep in houses. 

44 ZsJ? piv 7ns Toys ol$i xoii dQdi/OLTOi QsoT ocXXoiy 

44 'O7T7r0T£P0d Q&VUTOIO TfAo? TTITT Dlti^/t £]/0V WvJ . 

44 II. y 308. 

44 Well ! but all this you will think is but a 
" sad story: What? we must die, and go to 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



" darkness and dishonour ; and we must die 
" quickly, and we must quit all our delights, and 
" all our sins, or do worse, infinitely worse ; and 
" this is the condition of us all, from which 
" none can be excepted ; every man shall be 
" spilt and fall into the ground, and -'begathered 
" up no more.' Is there no comfort after all 
" this ? 8 Shall we go from hence, and be no 
" more seen,' and have no recompense ? 

*' Miser, o miser, aiunt, omnia ademit, 
" Una dies infausta mihi tot prsemia vitae. u 

" shall we exchange our fair dwellings for a. 
" coffin, our softer beds for the moistened and 
" weeping turf, and our pretty children for 
" worms ; and is there no allay to this huge 
" calamity ? Yes, there is : there is a £ yet' in 
" the text : 4 for all this, yet doth God devise 
" means that his banished be not expelled from 
" him.' All this sorrow and trouble is but a 
" phantasm, and receives its account and de- 
" grees from our present conceptions, and the 
" proportion to our relishes and gust." x 

u Lucretius, iii. 911. 

x Funeral Sermon,— Countess of Carbery's, p. 124. 



92 



THE LIFE OF 



CHAP. V. 

1651. 

T>REVIOUS to the death of the exemplary 
Countess of Carbery, Taylor had been 
occupied in writing his " Rule and Exercises 
" of Holy Dying," and that part of his volume 
of Sermons, a which was preached at Golden 
Grove, in the summer half-year. These, with 
the addition of the funeral sermon lately de- 
livered, and a " Discourse of the Divine Insti- 
" tution, Necessity, and Sacredness, ofthe Office 
" Ministerial," he published in the year 1651. 

" The Rule and Exercises of Holy Dying" 
he addressed to his beneficent patron : and in 
none of his writings did his attachment to his 
friend, or the character of this nobleman appear 
more conspicuous. Though designed for ge- 
neral purposes, it had been composed chiefly 

a The Sermons, &c. were published in small folio. The 
Holy Dying in duodecimo. Lib. Caius Coll. Camb. 
D. N. 52. Lond. for R. Royston, &c. 



JEREMY TAYLOR* 



93 



for the Countess, of whom he had just been 
deprived. Taylor, it seems, had also expe- 
rienced some loss in his own family, but of 
what kind there is no authority to state. The 
death of his benefactress alone threw a solemn 
air over every thing around him, and gave 
to this offering of his piety an additional 
impression. 

He knew his friend to be " so constant and 
*' regular in his devotions, and so tender in 
" the matter of justice, so ready in the ex- 
" pressions of charity, and so apprehensive 
4< of religion, and a person whose work of 
" grace was apt, and must every day grow to- 
** wards those degrees, where when he arrived 
" he would triumph over imperfection, and 
" chuse nothing but what might please God $ 
" he could not therefore, he thought, by any 
" compendium, conduct and assist his pious 
u purposes so well, as by that which is the 
u great argument and the great instrument of 
" Holy Living, the consideration and exercises 
" of Holy Dying." Thus impressed with the 
character of his friend and patron, he intro« 
duces the subject to his afflicted mind, and sel- 
dom can a more splendid instance of the feel- 
ing and piety of the man and the christian be 



94 



THE LIFE OF 



met with, than is displayed in his manner of 
conducting it. 

He tells his mourning benefactor, that he 
should entertain him in a charnel house, and 
carry his meditations awhile into the chambers 
of death, where he should find the rooms dressed 
up with melancholy arts, and fit to converse 
with his most retired thoughts, which begin 
with a sigh, and proceed in deep consideration, 
and end in holy resolution. He was treating 
him as a Roman gentleman did St. Augustine. 
The sight the holy man most noted in that 
house of sorrow, was the body of Caesar 
cloathed with all the dishonours of corruption. 
But he knew that without pointing, his lord- 
ship's first thoughts would remember the 
change of a greater beauty, which was 
then dressing for the brightest immortality, 
and from her bed of darkness called to him to 
dress his soul for that change which should 
mingle his bones with that beloved dust. What 
rendered it still more touching was the cir- 
cumstance of its being presented to Lord 
Carbery on the birth-day of his lady, — "This 
" is your dear lady's anniversary, and she de- 
" served the highest honour, and the longest 
" memory, and the fairest monument, and the 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



95 



f* most solemn mourning : and in order to it, 
ff give me leave to cover her hearse with these 
" following sheets." 

" This book was intended first to minister to 
" her piety ; and she desired all good people 
" should partake of the advantages which are 
" here recorded : she knew how to live rarely 
" well, and she desired to know how to die ; and 
If God taught her by an experiment. But since 
" her work is done, and God supplied her with 
" provisions of her own, before I could minister to 
" her, and perfect what she desired, it is neces- 
" sary to present to your lordship those bundles 
" of cypress which were intended to dress her 
" closet, but come now to dress her hearse. 

" Both your lordship and myself have lately 
" seen and felt such sorrows of death, and such 
*« sad departure of dearest friends, that it is 
" more than high time we should think our- 
" selves nearly concerned in these accidents. 
" Death has come so near to you as to fetch a 
" portion of your very heart ; and now you can- 
" not chuse but dig your own grave, and place 
" your coffin in your eye, when the angel hath 
" dressed your scene of sorrow and meditation 
" with so particular and so near an object \ 



96 THE LIFE OP 

" and therefore as it is my duty, I am come to 
" minister to your pious thoughts, and to direct 
" your sorrows, that they may turn into vir- 
u tues and advantages." b 

Few of his writings are more ably executed 
or have more passages worthy of remembrance, 
either for their application to the subject, or 
the strength and beauty of their expression. 
And it may be justly said, that he who will 
follow this great master of holy living will be 
led through the path of righteousness to a 
death of joy. 

As an instance of his genius and peculiar 
style of composition, the Rule and Exercises of 
" Holy Dying" surpasses that of " Holy 
" Living." All the treasures of ancient litera- 
ture with which his memory was stored, all 
the sterling morality extracted by his discrimi- 
nating judgment from the vilest dross of 

b Epistle Dedicatory to Holy Dying. 

The public is much indebted to the piety of the 
Reverend Thomas Thirlwall, M. A. for a new edition both 
of the Rule and Exercises of Holy Living, and Holy 
Dying. To the former of these is a preface, written by 
the editor, with a just commendation of these manuals. 
Mr. Thirlwall, conjectures that this treasure of religious 
wisdom, was Taylor's favourite work. 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



97 



antiquity, are here brought in aid of his 
impressive subject. 

After producing a series of instances of the 
vanity and shortness of life ; " The sum of 
" all," he says, is this : e That thou art a man/ 
" than whom there is not in the world any 
" greater instance of heights and declensions, of 
" lights and shadows, of misery and folly, of 
'f laughter and tears, of groans and death. 

" And, because this consideration is of great 
" usefulness and great necessity to many pur- 
" poses of wisdom and the spirit, all the suc- 
" cession of time, all the changes of nature, all 
" the varieties of light and darkness, the thou- 
" sand thousands of accidents in the world, 
" and every contingency to every man, and to 
" every creature does preach our funeral ser- 
4€ mon, and call us to look* and see, how the 
" old sexton time throws up the earth, and 
" digs a grave where we must lay our sins, or 
" our sorrows, and sow our bodies till they 
" rise again in a fair, or an intolerable eternity. 
" Every revolution which the sun makes about 
" the world, divides between life and death." 
" God by all the variety of his Providence, 
" makes us see death every where, in all va- 

H 



9 8 



TTHE LIFE OF 



« riety of circumstances, and dressed up for 
" all the fancies, and the expectation of every 
" single person. Nature hath given us one 
" harvest every year, but death hath two ; and 
" the spring and the autumn send throngs of 
" men and women to charnel houses ; and all 
" the summer long men are recovering from 
" their evils of the spring, till the dog days 
" come, and then the Syrian star makes the 
" summer deadly ; and the fruits of autumn 
" are laid up for all the year's provision, and 
" the man that gathers them eats and surfeits, 
" and dies and needs them not, and himself 
" is laid up for eternity ; and he that escapes 
" till winter, only stays for another opportu- 
" nity, which the distempers of that quarter 
** minister to him with great variety. Thus 
" death reigns in all the portions of our time." 

" The wild fellow in Petronius that escaped 
" upon a broken table from the furies of a ship- 
" wreck, as he was sunning himself upon the 
" rocky shore, espied a man rolling upon his 
" floating bed of waves, ballasted with sand in 
»>" the folds of his garment, and carried by his 
" civil enemy the sea towards the shore to find 
** a grave : and it cast him into some sad 
61 thoughts: thatperadventure this man's wife 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



99 



u in some part of the continent, safe and 
" warm, looks next month for the good 
" man's return ; or it may be his son knows 
" nothing of the tempest ; or his father thinks 
" of that affectionate kiss which still is 
" warm upon the good old man's cheek ever 
" since he took a kind farewell, and he 
" weeps with joy to think how blessed he 
" shall be when his beloved boy returns 
" into the circle of his father's arms. These 
" are the thoughts of mortals, this the end and 
" sum of all their designs : a dark night and 
" an ill guide, a boisterous sea and a broken 
" cable, an hard rock and a rough wind, dashed 
*« in pieces the fortune of a whole family, and 
u they that shall weep loudest for the accident, 
" are not yet entered into the storm, and yet 
M have suffered shipwreck. Then looking 
u upon the carcase, he knew it, and found it 
" to be the master of the ship, who the day 
" before cast up the accounts of his patrimony 
" and his trade, and named the day when he 
" thought to be at home. See how the man 
" swims who was so angry two days since ; his 
" passions are becalmed with the storm, his 
" accounts cast up, his cares at an end, his 
*' voyage done, and his gains are the strange 
" events of death ; which whether they be good 
H 2 



lOO 



THE LIFE OF 



" or evil, the men that are alive seldom trouble 
" themselves concerning the interest of the 
" dead. 

" But seas alone do not break our vessel in 
" pieces: every where we may be e shipwrecked. 
" And all this is the law and constitution of 
" nature, it is a punishment to our sins, the 
" unalterable event of Providence, and the de- 
" cree of heaven. The chains that confine us 

c Dryden has admirably expressed this sentiment in his 
Ode to the Memory of Mrs. Ann Killigrew. 

Meanwhile her warlike brother on the seas 
His waving streamers to the winds displays, 
And vows for his return, with vain devotion, pays. 
Ah, generous youth ! that wish forbear, 
The winds too soon will waft thee here : 
Slack all thy sails, and fear to come, 
Alas ! thou know'st not thou art wreck'd at home ! 
No more shalt thou behold thy sister's face, 
Thou hast already had her last embrace. 

L. 165 — 173. 
The same idea is in his Annus Mirabilis, 1. 129, &c. 
The son who, twice three months on th' ocean tost, 

Prepared to tell what he had done before, 
Now sees 

His parents' arms in vain stretch'd from the shore. 
This careful husband had been long away 

Whom his chaste wife and little children mourn. 
Who on their fingers learn to tell the day, 

On which their father promised to return. 
Such are the proud designs of human kind; 

And so we suffer shipwreck ev'ry where. 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



to this condition are strong as destiny, and 
" immutable as the eternal laws of God. 

u I have conversed with some men who re- , 
" joiced in the death or calamity of others, 
" and accounted it a judgment upon them for 
" being on the other side, and against them in 
" the contention ; but within the revolution of 
" a few months the same man met with a 
" more uneasy and unhandsome death ; which 
" when I saw, I wept, and was afraid; for 
" I knew that it must be so with all men, 
4 6 for we also shall die, and end our quar- 
" rels and contentions by passing to a final 
" sentence." d 

With equal force and increased beauty he 
takes an account of life. " We must not 
H think," he says, " that the life of a man 
" begins when he can feed himself or walk 
" alone ; for so he is contemporary with a 
" camel or a cow ; but he is first a man, when 
" he comes to a certain steady use of reason, 
" according to his proportion ; and when that 
" is, all the world of men cannot tell pre- 
" cisely. Some are called at age at fourteen, 



Holy Dying, sect. i. 
H 3 



IKE LIFE OF 



u some at one-and-twenty, some never ; but 
** all men late enough, for the life of a man 
" comes upon him slowly and insensibly. But 
" as when the sun approaching towards the 
" gates of the morning, he first opens a little 
4 6 eye of heaven, and sends away the spi- 
" rits of darkness, and gives light to a cock, 
" and calls up the lark to mattins, and by and 
" by gilds the fringes of a cloud, and peeps 
" over the eastern hills, thrusting out his 
" golden horns, like those which decked the 
" brows of Moses when he was forced to wear 
" a veil, because himself had seen the face of 
" God ; and still while a man tells the story, 
" the sun gets up higher, till he shews a fair 
" face and a full light, and then he shines 
" one whole day, under a cloud often, and 
" sometimes weeping great and little showers, 
" and sets quickly : so is a man's reason and 
" his life." c 

Such is his style of writing in this admirable 
Treatise. — He divides the subject into five 
chapters, beginning with a general preparation 
towards a holy and blessed death, by way of 
consideration. Under this head he first enters 



e Holy Dying, sect, 3, 



JEREMY TAYLOR. lO$ 

upon the vanity and shortness of man's life, 
and then reduces his reflections to practice. 
These are followed by rules and spiritual arts 
of lengthening our days and arguments to 
take off the objection of a short life ; and 
lastly, he dwells upon human miseries. 

The second chapter gives a general prepa- 
ration towards a holy and blessed death, by 
way of exercise; lays down three precepts 
preparatory to this awful event to be practised 
in our whole life ; and insists upon daily exa« 
mination of our actions whilst in health. The 
exercise of charity occupies the next section : 
and the chapter closes with general consider- 
ations to enforce the former practices. 

The third chapter treats of the temptations 
incident to the state of sickness with their 
proper remedies : of the state of sickness 
itself, of impatience, of the constituent or 
integral parts of patience, of remedies against 
impatience, both by way of consideration and 
of exercise, of the advantages of sickness, of 
remedies against the fear of death, by way 
both of consideration and exercise, and of 
general rules and exercises by which our 
sickness may become safe and sanctified. 
h 4 



THE LIFE OF 



The fourth chapter shews the practice of 
the graces proper to the state of sickness 
which a man may perform alone — of patience 
and its several acts, and the same of faith 
and repentance ; and, after giving an Analysis 
of the Decalogue, enforces the practice of 
charity and justice. 

The various benefits arising from visiting 
the sick follow in the last chapter, with the 
several offices applicable to the occasion y 
and the subject concludes with a peroration 
concerning the contingencies, and treatment 
of our departed friends after death, in order 
to their will and burial. 

Taylor's habits were as industrious as his 
mind was strong. Though occupied as we 
have seen in the laborious employment of 
education, yet in the same year with " the 
" Rule and Exercises of Holy Dying," he 
brought out the Sermons f already mentioned. 
They are twenty-seven in number, with the 
addition of the Sermon preached at Lady 
Carbery's funeral and the Discourse of the 

f London, printed by R. N. for Richard Royston, at 
the Angel in Ivie Lane, 1651. Together with these ser- 
mons was published " A Discourse of the Divine Institu* 
" tution, Necessity, Sacredriess and Separation of the 



JEREMY TAYLOR. IO| 

Divine Institution, Necessity, Sacredness, and 
Separation of the Office Ministerial. The 
subjects which engaged his attention in these 
Sermons are, " The Spirit of Grace," " The 
" descending and entailed Curse cut off," 
" The invalidity of a late or death-bed Re- 
* pentance," " The Deceitfulness of the 
" Heart," " The Faith and Patience of the 
" Saints," " The Mercy of the Divine Judg- 
" ments," " Growth in Grace, Growth in 
" Sin," " The foolish Exchange," " Christ- 
" ian Prudence," " Christian Simplicity," 
and " The Miracles of the Divine Mercy." 

These he dedicated to the Earl of Carbery 
in an Epistle, which for the allusions to his 
private intercourse in that Nobleman's family, 
as well as admirable remarks contained in it 
requires insertion in this place. Still dwelling 
upon the memory of his amiable patroness, he 
thus addresses him: 

" I now present your lordship a copy of 
" those Sermons, the publication of which was 



" Office Ministerial." At the end of the volume the 
printer apologises for any mistakes that may be made in 
the letter-press, on account of " the absence of the au- 
" thor ? and his inconvenient distance from London." 



12 



io6 



THE LIFE OF 



" was first designed by the appetites of that 
" « hunger and thirst of righteousness/ which 
" made your dear lady (that rare soul) so dear 
" to God, that he was pleased speedily to 
" satisfy her, by carrying her from our shallow 
" and impure cisterns, to drink out of the 
" fountains of our Saviour. I shall but prick 
" your tender eye, if I shall remind your 
" Lordship how diligent a hearer, how careful 
" a recorder, how prudent an observer, how 
" sedulous a practiser of holy discourses she 
" was ; and that therefore it was, that what 
" did slide through her ear, she was desirous 
" to place before her eye, that by those win- 
" dows they might enter in and dwell in her 
" heart : but because by this truth I shall do 
" advantage to the following Discourses, give 
" me leave to fancy that this Book is derived 
" upon your Lordship almost in the nature of 
" a legacy from her, whose every thing was 
" dearer to your Lordship than your own eyes ; 
" and that what she was pleased to believe apt 
" to minister to her devotions, and the religion 
" of her pious and discerning soul, may also 
" be allowed a place in your closet, and a 
*« portion of your retirement, and a lodging in 
" your thoughts, that they may encourage 
" and instruct your practice, and promote 



JEREMY TAYLOR* 



f that interest which is, and ought to be, 
" dearer to you than all those blessings and 
" separations with which God hath remarked 
" your family and person. 

" My Lord, I confess the publication of 
" these Sermons can so little serve the ends of 
" my reputation, that I am therefore pleased 
" the rather to do it, because I cannot at all 
6 4 be tempted, in so doing, to minister to any 
" thing of vanity. Sermons may please when 
" they first strike the ear, and yet appear flat 
ff. and ignorant when they are offered to the 
u eye, and to an understanding that can con- 
" sider at leisure. I remember that a young 
" Gentleman of Athens, being to answer for 
" his life, hired an orator to make his defence, 
" and it pleased him well at his first reading, 
" but when the young man by often reading 
If it, that he might recite it publicly by heart, 
" began to grow weary and displeased with it, 
" the orator bade him consider that the 
" judges and the people were to hear it but 
" once, and then it was likely they at that 
ff first instant might be as well pleased as 
|f he. This hath often represented to my 
" mind the condition and fortune of Sermons, 
" and that I now part with the advantage they 



THE LIFE OF 



" had in their delivery ; but I have sufficiently 
" answered myself in that, and am at rest 
" perfectly in my thoughts as to that par- 
" ticular, if I can in any degree serve the 
" interest of souls, and (which is next to that) 
" obey the piety, and record the memory of 
" that dear saint, whose name and whose soul 
" is blessed : for in both these ministeries I 
" doubt not but your Lordship will be pleased, 
" and account as if I had done some service to 
" yourself: your religion makes me sure of 
" the first, and your piety puts the latter past 
" my fears. However, I suppose, in the 
" whole account of this affair, this publication 
* may be esteemed but like preaching to a 
" numerous auditory ; which if I had done, 
" it would have been called either duty or 
" charity, and therefore will not now so readily 
" be censured for vanity, if I make use of all 
" the ways I can to minister to the good of 
" souls. But because my intentions are fair in 
" themselves, and I hope are acceptable to God, 
" and will be fairly expounded by your Lord- 
" ship (whom for so great reason I so much 
" value) I shall not trouble you or the world 
" with an apology for this so free publishing 
" my weaknesses : I can better secure my 
" reputation, by telling men how they ought 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 109 

w to entertain Sermons ; for if they that read 
44 or hear do their duty aright, the preacher 
« shall soon be secured of his fame, and un- 
" touched by censure. 

" For it were well if men would not inquire 
*« after the learning of the Sermon, or its 
" deliciousness to the ear of fancy, but observe 
" its usefulness ; not what concerns the 
" preacher, but what concerns themselves ; 
" not what may make a vain reflexion upon 
" him, but what may substantially serve their 
" own needs > that the attending to his 
$< Discourses may not be spent in vain talk 
" concerning him or his disparagements, but 
u may be used as a duty and a part of religion, 
to minister to edification and instruction. 
" When St. John reckoned the principles of 
<s evil actions, he told but of three, ' The lust 
" of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and 
?* the pride of life.' But there was then 
H also in the world (and now it is grown into 
•« age, and strength, and faction) another lust, 
" the lust of the ear, and a fifth also, the lust 
" of the tongue. Some people have an in- 
*< satiable appetite in hearing ; and hear only 
" that they may hear, and talk, and make a 
"party: they enter into their neighbour's 



iio 



THE LIFE OF 



" house to kindle their candle, and espying 
iC there a glaring fire, sit down upon the 
" hearth, and warm themselves all day, and 
" forget their errand ; and in the mean time 
" their own fires are not lighted, nor their 
" families instructed or provided for, nor any 
" need served, but a lazy pleasure which is 
" useless and impudent. Hearing or reading 
" Sermons, is, or ought to be, in order to 
" practice ; for so God intended it, that 
" f Faith should come by Hearing/ and that 
" charity should come by Jaith, and by both 
" together we may be saved ; for a man's ears 
" (as Plutarch calls them) are virtutum ansce, 
" by them we are to hold and apprehend 
" virtue ; and unless we use them as men do 
" 'vessels of dishonour/ filling them with 
" things fit to be thrown away, with any thing 
" that is not necessary, we are by them more 
" nearly brought to God than by all the senses 
" beside. For although things placed before 
«' the eye affect the mind more readily than 
« the things we usually hear ; yet the reason 
f* of that is, because we hear carelessly, and 
" we hear variety : the same species dwells 
" upon the eye, and represents the same 
" object in union and single representment ; 
«• but the objects of the ear are broken into 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



tit 



« fragments of periods, and words and sylla- 
" bles, and must be attended with a careful 
" understanding: and because every thing 
" diverts the sound, and every thing calls 
" off the understanding, and the spirit of 
" a man is truantly and trifling; therefore it 
" is, that what men hear does so little affect 
" them, and so weakly work towards the 
" purposes of virtue : and yet nothing does 
" so affect the mind of man as those voices 
" to which we cannot chuse but attend ; and 
" thunder and all loud voices from Heaven 
" rend the most stony heart, and make the 
" most obstinate pay to God the homage of 
" trembling and fear ; and the still voice of 
" God usually takes the tribute of love, and 
" choice, and obedience. Now since hearing 
" is so effective an instrument of conveying 
" impresses and images of things, and exciting 
" purposes, and fixing resolutions (unless we 
" hear weakly and imperfectly) ; it will be of 
" the greater concernment that we be curious 
" to hear in order to such purposes which are 
" perfective of the soul and of the spirit, and 
" not to dwell in fancy and speculation, in 
" pleasures and trifling arrests, which con- 
f* tinue the soul in its infancy and childhood, 
" never letting it go forth into the wisdom 



112 



THE LIFE OF 



" and virtues of a man. I have read concern- 
" ing Dionysius of Sicily, that being delighted 
" extremely with a minstrel that sung well, 
" and struck his harp dextrously, he promised 
" to give him a great reward ; and that raised 
" the fancy of the man and made him play 
" better. But when the music was done; and 
" the man waited for his great hope, the King 
" dismissed him empty, telling him that he 
" should carry away as much of the promised 
" reward as himself did of the music, and 
" that he had paid him sufficiently with the 
" pleasure of the promise for the pleasure of 
" the song : both their ears had been equally 
" delighted, and the profit just none at all. 
"So it is in many men's hearing sermons : 
44 they admire the preacher, and he pleases 
44 their ears, and neither of them both bear 
" along with them any good ; and the hearer 
" hath as little good by the sermon, as the 
44 preacher, by the air of the people's breath, 
44 when they make a noise, and admire, and 
4 4 understand not. And that also is a second 
" caution I desire all men would take. 

44 That they may never trouble the affairs 
44 of preaching and hearing respectively, with 
" admiring the person of any man. To 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



w admire a preacher is such a reward of his 
" pains and worth, as if you should crown a 
" conqueror with a garland of roses, or a bride 
" with laurel, it is an undecency, it is no part 
" of the reward which could be intended for 
" him. For though it be a good-natured folly, 
" yet it hath in it much danger : For by tnat 
" means the preacher may lead his hearers 
M captive, and make them servants of a fac- 
u tion, or of a lust ; it makes them so much 
" the less to be servants of Christ, by how 
" much they * call any man master upon 
" earth it weakens the heart and hands of 
" others ; it places themselves in a rank much 
" below their proper station, changing from 
" hearing * the word of God/ to admiration 
" of the 4 persons and faces of men $? and it 
" being a fault that falls upon the more easy 
" natures and softer understandings, does 
" more easily abuse a man. And though 
" such a person may have the good fortune 
" to admire a good man and a wise ; yet it is 
" an ill disposition, and makes him liable to 
" every man's abuse. * Stupidum hominem 
" qudvis oratione percelli, 9 said Heraclitus ; 
" an undiscerning person is apt to be cozened 
" by every oration. And besides this, that 
" preacher whom some do admire, others will 

i 



ii 4 



THE LIFE OF 



" most certainly envy ; and that also is to be 
" provided against with diligence : and you 
" must not admire too forwardly, for your 
" own sake, lest you fall into the hands of a 
" worse preacher ; and for his sake, whom 
" when you admire, you also love, for others 
" will be apt to envy him. 

" But that must by all men be avoided, for 
" envy is the worst counsellor in the world, 
" and the worst hearer of a wise discourse. I 
" pity those men who live upon flattery and 
" wonder, and while they sit at the foot of the 
h-. doctor's chair, stare in his face, and cry, 
" oM^fiwq w psytzxz <pi\oro<px g ! rarely spoken, 
" admirably done ! They are like callow and 
" unfeathered birds, gaping perpetually to be 
" fed from another's mouth, and they ' never 
«g come to the knowledge of the truth ;' such 
" a knowledge as is effective, and expressed 
" in a prudent and holy life. But those men 
" that envy the preacher, besides that they 
" are great enemies of the Holy Ghost, and 
" are spitefully * evil because God is good to 
" him/ they are also enemies to themselves. 
" He that envies the honours or the riches of 



JRREMY TAYLOR. 



II 5 



66 another, envies for his own sake, and he 
" would fain be rich with that wealth which 
" sweats in his neighbour's coffers i but he 
c that envies him that makes good sermons, 
" envies himself, and is angry because himself 
" may receive the benefit, and be improved, 
4 ;< or delighted, or instructed by another. He 
" that is apt fondly to admire any man's per- 
" son must cure himself by considering, that 
** the preacher is God's minister and servant ; 
" that he speaks God's word, and does it by 
" the divine assistance ; that he hath nothing 
** of his own but sin and imperfection ; that 
" he does but his duty, and that also hardly 
" enough ; that he is highly answerable for 
" his talent, and stands deeply charged with 
" the cure of souls 5 and therefore that he is 
" to be highly esteemed for the word's sake,' 
" not for the person : his industry and his 
" charity is to be beloved, his ability is to be 
" accounted upon another stock, and for it 
w the preacher and the hearer are both to give 
" God thanks ; but nothing is due to the man 
" for that, save only that it is the rather to 
" be employed, because by it we may better 
" be instructed : But if any other reflection 
" be made upon his person, it is next to the 
" sin and danger of Herod and the people, 
x 2 



n6 



THE LIFE OF 



** when the fine oration was made, pit* vox* 
'* xfo (pocvTourius, with huge fancy ; the people 
" were pleased, and Herod was admired, and 
" God was angry, and an angel was sent to 
" strike him with death and with dishonour. 
" But the envy against a preacher is to be 
" cured by a contrary discourse, and we must 
" remember, that he is in the place of God, 
" and hath received the gift of God, and the 
" aids of the Holy Ghost ; that by his abi- 
" lities God is glorified, and we are instructed, 
" and the interests of virtue and holy religion 
** are promoted ; that by this means God, who 
11 deserves that all souls should serve him for 
" ever, is likely to have a fairer harvest of 
" glory and service, and therefore that envy 
" is against him ; that if we envy because we 
" are not the instrument of this good to others, 
" we must consider that we desire the praise 
" to ourselves, not to God. Admiration of a 
" man supposes him to be inferior to the per- 
" son so admired, but then he is pleased so 
* to be ; but envy supposes him as low, and 
" he is displeased at it ; and the envious man 
" is not only less than the other man's virtue, 
" but also contrary ; the former is a vanity, 
" but this is a vice ; that wants wisdom, but 
" this wants xvisdom and charity too ; that sup- 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



II 7 



%t poses an absence of some good, but this is 
" a direct affliction and calamity. 

" And after all this, if the preacher be not 
*« despised, he may proceed cheerfully in 
" doing his duty, and the hearer may have 
" some advantages by every Sermon. I re- 
" member that Homer says the wooers of 
" Penelope laught at Ulysses, because at his 
" return he called for a loaf, and did not, to 
" shew his gallantry, call for swords and spears. 
" Ulysses was so wise as to call for that he 
" needed, and had it, and it did him more 
" good than a whole armory would in his case* 
" So is the plainest part of an easy and honest 
" Sermon, it is 6 the sincere milk of the word,' 
" and nourishes a man's soul though repre- 
" sented in its own natural simplicity : and 
" there is hardly any orator but you may find 
" occasion to praise something of him. When 
" Plato misliked the order and disposition of 
" the oration of Lysias, yet he praised the 
" good words and the elocution of the man. 
" Euripides was commended for Ins fulness, 
" Parmenides for his composition, Phocylides 
" for his easiness, Archilochus for his argu- 
" ment, Sophocles for the unequalness of his 
" stile ; so may men praise their preacher ; 

1 3 



THE LIFE OF 



" he speaks pertinently, or he contrives wittily, 
" or he speaks comely, or the man is pious, 
" or charitable, or he hath a good text, or he 
" speaks plainly, or he is not tedious, or if he 
" be, he is at least industrious, or he is the 
" messenger of God ; and that will not fail 
" us, and let us love him for that. And we 
" know those that love can easily commend 
" any thing, because they like every thing : 
* and they say, fair men are like angels, and 
" the black are manly, and the pale look like 
" honey and the stars, and the crook-nosed are 
" like the sons of kings, and if they be flat 
44 they are gentle and easy, and if they be 
" deformed they are humble, and not to be 
" despised, because they have upon them the 
" impresses of Divinity, and they are the sons 
" of God. He that despises his preacher, is a 
" hearer of arts and learning, not of the word 
" of God: and though when the word of God 
" is set off with advantages and entertain- 
" ments of the better faculties of our humility, 
" it is more useful and of more effect ; yet 
" when the word of God is spoken truly, 
" though but read in plain language, it will 
" become the disciple of Jesus to love that 
" man whom God sends, and the publick 
" order and laws have employed, rather than 



JEREMY TAYLOR, 



II 9 



" to despise the weakness of him who delivers 
* fi a mighty word. 

" Thus it is fit that men should be affected 
" and employed when they hear and read 
" Sermons, coming hither not as into a 
" theatre, where men observe the gestures 
" or noises of the people, the brow and the 
" eyes of the most busy censurers, and make 
" parties, and go aside with them that dislike 
" every thing, or else admire not the things, 
" but the persons ; but as to a sacrifice, and as 
"to a school where virtue is taught and 
" exercised, and none come but such as put 
" themselves under discipline, and intend to 
" grow wiser, and more virtuous to appease 
" their passion, from violent to become 
" smooth and even, to have their faith esta- 
" blished, and their hope confirmed, and their 
" charity enlarged. They that are otherwise 
" affected do not do their duty : but if they 
" be so minded as they ought, I, and all men 
" of my employment, shall be secured against 
" the tongues and faces of men who are 
" ingeniosi in alieno libro, witty to abuse 
" and undervalue another man's book. And 
" yet besides these spiritual arts already 
" reckoned, I have one security more : for 
1 4 



120 



THE LIFE OF 



" (unless I deceive myself) I intend the glory 
" of God sincerely, and the service of Jesus 
" in this publication ; and therefore being I 
" do not seek myself or my own reputation, I 
6( shall not be troubled if they be lost in the 
" voices of busy people, so that I be accepted 
" of God, and < found of him in the day of 
" the Lord's visitation. 5 

" My Lord, it was your charity and noble- 
" ness that gave me opportunity to do this 
« 6 service (little or great) unto religion, and 
" whoever shall find any advantage to their 
" soul by reading the following Discourses, if 
" they know how to bless God, and to bless 

all them that are God's instruments in 
<£ doing them benefit, will (I hope) help to 
" procure blessings to your person and family, 
" and say a holy prayer, and name your Lord- 
" ship in their Litanies, and remember that 
" at your own charges you have digged a 
" well, and placed cisterns in the high- ways, 
«* that they may drink and be refreshed, and 
" their souls may bless you. My Lord, I hope 
" this, even because I very much desire it, 
" and because you exceedingly deserve it, 
" and above all, because God is good and 
" gracious, and loves to reward such .a .charity. 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



121 



" and such a religion as is yours, by wKich 
" you have employed me in the service of 
" God, and in the ministries to your family, 
" My Lord, I am most heartily, and for very 
" many dear obligations, 

" Your Lordship's most obliged, 
* most humble, 

" and most affectionate 

" Servant, 
" Taylor." 

However eloquent and impressive these 
Sermons may at first sight appear, they will 
rise still more highly in our estimation from a 
comparison with the wild and blasphemous 
matter that proceeded from the pulpit, whilst 
it was usurped by the Independent preachers 
of the Commonwealth. 11 

Ill-adapted as the style of these Discourses 
may be to modern ears, a reference to the 
times in which they were composed will 
justify the author in his assertion that they 
were " fitted to the great necessities, and for 

h Of this every person will be convinced, who will be at 
the trouble to search into the writings of that day; or has 
obtained the information by a more easy method, through 
the medium of Dr. Grey's edition of Hudibras. 



122 



THE LIFE OF 



" supplying the wants of preaching in many 
" parts of this nation," at that schismatical 
and enthusiastic era. 

Many expressions occur both in these and 
other productions of Taylor that are new and 
unauthorized ; the course of his reasoning 
is often interrupted by quotations from clas- 
sical authors ; and allusions to ancient History 
frequently arrest the attention ; but still they 
are so interwoven with the discourse, as to 
strike by their aptness, and surprize by their 
facility. In other respects, his arguments are 
convincing and his illustration luminous. The 
streams of morality, ancient and modern, are 
here poured out in a copious flood warmed by 
the Sun of Righteousness. 

Sometimes he is almost carried away by his 
subject. " For him that considers God's mer- 
" cies, and dwells awhile in that depth, it is 
" hard not to talk wildly, and without art and 
" order of discoursings. St. Peter talked he 
" knew not what when he entered into a 
" cloud with Jesus upon Mount Tabor, though 
" it passed over him like the little curtains 
" that ride upon the north wind, and pass 
" between the sun and us. And when we 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 12$ 

" converse with a light greater than the sun, 
M and taste a sweetness more delicious than 
" the dew of heaven, and in our thoughts 
" entertain the ravishments and harmony of 
" that atonement which reconciles God to 
" man, and man to felicity, it will be more 
" easily pardoned, if we should be like per- 
" sons that admire much, and say but little : 
4 ' and indeed we can best confess the glories 
" of the Lord by dazzled eyes, and a heart 
" overcharged with the mercies of this in- 
" fmity." 1 



Sermon 25, of the course for the summer half year. 



124 



THE LIFE Of 



CHAP. VI. 



1651. 



l HE first of the Course of Sermons for 



the Summer half year is for Whitsunday ; 
and is " on the Spirit of Grace." The 
eighth chapter of the Epistle to the Romans 
and ninth and tenth verses is the text 
upon which Taylor grounds this Discourse. 
He opens the subject by affirming, that the 
day in which the Church commemorates the 
Descent of the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles, 
was the beginning of the Gospel ; and that 
the manifestation of the Spirit is the Gospel 
of Jesus Christ. He shews that the Gospel 
is called the Spirit ; i . Because it contains in 
it such glorious mysteries as were revealed 
by the immediate inspirations of the Spirit. 

2. Because, when we had been taught these 
mysterious articles, we could not by any 
human power have understood them, unless the 
Spirit of God had given us a new light, and 
created in us a new capacity, and made us to 
be a new creature, of another definition. 

3. Because it consists of Spiritual Promises 




JEREMY TAYLOR. 125 

mnd Spiritual Precepts, and makes all men that 
embrace it to be truly Spiritual men. 4. He 
brings other reasons to shew that the Gospel 
is called Spirit, because by and in the Gospel 
God hath given to us not only the Spirit of 
manifestation, that is, of instruction and of 
catechism, of faith and confident assent ; but 
the Spirit of Confirmation or Obsignation to 
all them that believe and obey it. He asserts 
that upon this foundation the Apostle has 
built these two propositions. That whosoever 
hath not the Spirit of Christ, is none of his ; 
he does not belong to Christ at all : he is not 
partaker of his Spirit, and therefore shall 
never be partaker of his glory ; and, that 
whosoever is in Christ, is dead to sin, and 
lives to the spirit of Christ ; that is, lives a 
spiritual, a holy, and a sanctified life. Having 
considered these distinctly, he applies them to 
the congregation, and concludes. 

In the course of his reasoning, he says, 
" Indifferency to an object is the lowest 
" degree of liberty, and supposes unworthiness 
" or defect in the object, or the apprehension: 
" but the will is then the freest and most 
" perfect in its operation, when it entirely 
" pursues a good with so certain determination 



126 



THE LIFE OF 



" and dear election, that the contrary evil 
" cannot come into dispute or pretence. Such 
" in our proportions is the liberty of the sons 
" of God ; it is an holy and amiable captivity 
" to the Spirit. The will of man is in love 
" with those chains which draw us to God, 
" and loves the fetters that confine us to the 
" pleasures and religion of the kingdom. And 
" as no man will complain that his temples 
" are restrained, and his head is prisoner, 
" when it is encircled with a crown ; so when 
" the Son of God had made us free, and hath 
" only subjected us to the service and do- 
" minion of the Spirit, we are as free as 
" Princes within the circles of their diadem, 
" and our chains are bracelets, and the law is 
46 a law of liberty, and his service is perfect 
" freedom, and the more we are subjects the 
" more we shall reign as kings ; and the faster 
" we run, the easier is our burden ; and 
" Christ's yoke is like feathers to a bird, when 
** in Summer we wish them unfeathered and 
u callow, or bald as eggs, that they might be 
" cooler and lighter. 

" Such is the load and captivity of a soul, 
" when we do the work of God, and are his 
" servants, and under the government of the 



JEREMY TAYLOR. IIJ 

ff Spirit. They that strive to be quit of his 
u subjection, love the liberty of out-laws, and 
" the licentiousness of anarchy, and the free- 
" dom of sad widows and distressed orphans : 
" for so rebels, and fools, and children long to 
" be rid of their princes and their guardians 
" and their tutors, that they may be accursed 
" without law, and be undone without con- 
" troul, and be ignorant and miserable without 
" a teacher and without discipline. He that 
" is in the Spirit is under tutors and gover- 
" nors, until the time appointed of the father, 
" just as all great heirs are ; only, the first. 
" seizure the Spirit makes, is upon the wilL 
" He that loves the yoke of Christ, and the 
" discipline of the Gospel, he is in the Spirit, 
" that is in the Spirit's power."* 

" A man, if you speak naturally, can mas- 
" ticate gums, and he can break his own legs, 
" and he can sip up by little draughts mix- 
" tures of aloes and rhubarb, of henbane and 
" deadly nightshade ; but he cannot do this 
" naturally and willingly, chearfully, or with 
" delight. Every sin is against a good man's 
" nature. He is ill at ease when he hath 
" missed his prayers, he is amazed if he have 



* Serm. i. summer half year. 



128 



THE LIFE OF 



" fallen into an error, he is infinitely ashamed 
" of his imprudence ; he remembers a sin as 
" he thinks of an enemy, or the horrors of 
" a midnight apparition ; for all his capaci- 
" ties, his understanding, and his chusing 
4 ' faculties are filled up with the opinion and 
" persuasions, with the love and with the 
" desires, of God." b 

" Amongst the ignorance and imperfection 
" of Gentile philosophy, men used to pray 
" with their hands full of rapine, and their 
" mouths full of blood, and their hearts full of 
" malice ; and they prayed accordingly, for 
« c an opportunity to steal, for a fair body, for 
*' a prosperous revenge, for a prevailing malice, 
" for the satisfaction of whatsoever they could 
«' be tempted to by any object, by any lust, 
" by any devil whatsoever. 

" The Jews were better taught, for God 
" was their teacher, and he gave the Spirit to 
" them in single rays. But as the spirit of 
" obsignation was given to them under a seal, 
" and within a veil ; so the spirit of mani- 
" festation or patefaction was like the germ 

b Serm. i. summer half year, p. 206. Ib. p. 208. 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 1 29 

* € of a vine, or the bud of a rose, plain in- 
" dices and significations of life, and prin- 
u ciples of juice and sweetness ; but yet 
" scarce out of the doors of their causes : they 
f* had the infancy of knowledge, and revela- 
" tions to them were given as catechism is 
" taught to children ; which they read with 
" the eye of a bird, and speak with the 
" tongue of a bee, and understand with the 
f* heart of a child ; that is, weakly and im- 
" perfectly." " But that we may see how 
" great things the Lord hath done for us, 
" God hath poured his spirit into our hearts, 
" the spirit of prayer and supplication." 

The two next discourses are upon " the 
" descending and entailed Curse cut off;" 
and are grounded upon part of the fifth verse 
of the twentieth chapter of Exodus. The 
preacher opens his subject by stating that it is 
unnecessary for persons to be taught to avoid 
the plague, at least that most men think so : 
yet that this observation when applied to sin, 
the greatest of all disorders, does not hold 
good, for which reason God has manifested 
his open hostility to it in various instances, 

c Serra. i, p. 208, second part of the serm, " Of the 
g Spirit of Grace." 

K 



THE LIFE OF 



and if man will not regard this he mnst fall 
under the vengeance of a jealous God. 

That the first blow which the Almighty 
aims at sin is, by representing himself as "a 
" jealous God" : which term the preacher en- 
ters into and fully discusses, and then pro- 
ceeds to the consideration of another portion 
of the text ; that God visits the sins of the 
fathers upon the children. Under this he 
inquires into the equity of God in this pro- 
ceeding, and our danger in persevering in sin. 
He asserts that sin is infectious, not only in 
example, but also in punishment, and shews 
in what instances, for what reasons, and in 
what degree it is so ; and what are the reme- 
dies for this evil. 

Speaking of afflictions falling upon the in- 
nocent, he says, " All the calamities in this 
" life are incident to the most godly persons 
" in the world : and since the King of heaven 
" and earth was made a man of sorrows, it 
" cannot be called unjust or intolerable that 
" innocent persons should be pressed with 
" temporal infelicities : only in such cases we 
" must distinguish the misery from the punish- 
* ment ; for that all the world dies is a 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



*« punishment of Adam's sin ; but it is no evil 
*' to those single persons that die in the Lord, 
*< for they are blessed in their death. Jona- 
" than was killed the same day with his father 
f* the king ; and this was a punishment to 
" Saul indeed, but to Jonathan it was a bles- 
" sing : for since God had appointed the 
" kingdom to his neighbour, it was more ho- 
" nourable for him to die fighting the Lord's 
" battle, than to live and see himself the 
" lasting testimony of God's curse upon his 
" father, who lost the kingdom from his fa- 
44 mily by his disobedience. That death is a 
" blessing which ends an honourable, and 
" prevents an inglorious life. And our chil- 
" dren (it may be) shall be sanctified by a 
44 sorrow, and purified by the fire of affliction, 
" and they shall receive the blessing of it ; 
* ( but it is to their fathers a curse, who shall 
" wound their own hearts with sorrow, and 
" cover their heads with a robe of shame, for 
" bringing so great evil upon their heads. 

" God hath many ends of providence to 
4< serve in this dispensation of his judgments* 
4i He expresses the highest indignation against 
" sin, and makes his examples lasting, com- 
^muoicalive, and of great effect 5 it is a little 



THE LIFE OF 



" image of hell ; and we shall the less wonder 
* that God with the pains of eternity punishes 
44 the sins of time, when with our eyes we see 
44 him punish a transient action with a lasting 
"judgment. 2. It arrests the spirits of men, 
44 and surprizes their loosenesses, and restrains 
44 their gaiety, when we observe that the 
44 judgments of God find us out in all rela- 
44 tions, and turn our comforts into sadness, 
44 and makes our families the scene of sorrows, 
44 and we can escape him no where ; and by 
44 sin are made obnoxious not alone to personal 
44 judgments, but are made like the fountains 
44 of the dead sea, springs of the lake of 
44 Sodom ; instead of refreshing our families 
44 with blessings, we leave them brimstone, 
44 and drought, and poison, and an evil name, 
44 and the wrath of God, and a treasure of 
44 wrath, and their fathers' sins for their por- 
44 tion and inheritance. Naturalists say, that 
44 when the leading goats in the Greek 
44 islands have taken an eryngus or sea-holly 
44 into their mouths, all the herd will stand 
44 still, till the herdsman, comes and forces it 
44 out, as apprehending the evil that will come 
44 to them all, if any of them, especially their 
** principals, taste an unwholesome plant. 
44 And indeed it is of a general concernment, 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 1 33 

C€ that the master of a family, or the prince 
" of a people, from whom as from a fountain 
" many issues do derive upon their relatives, 
" should be springs of health, and sanctity, 
" and blessing. 5 ' d 

" The second part of this subject regards the 
" Remedies afforded to sons to cut off this 
" entail of Curses." And the whole con- 
cludes with this impressive passage. " The 
" prayer of a sinner, the unhallowed wish of 
" a vicious parent, is but a poor donative to 
" give to a child who sucked poison from his 
" nurse, and derives cursing from his parents. 
" They are punished with a double torture in 
" the shame and pain of the damned, who 
" dying enemies to God have left an inven- 
" tory of sins and wrath to be divided amongst 
" their children. But they that can truly 
" give a blessing to their children are such as 
" live a blessed life, and pray holy prayers, 
" and perform an integral repentance, and 
" do separate from the sins of their proge- 
*• nitors, and do illustrious actions, and begin 
" the blessing of their family upon a new 
" stock. For as from the eyes of some per- 



Summer half year, p. 22 1 , Serm. 3, 

K 3 



*34 



THE LIFE OT 



" sons there shoots forth an evil influence, 
" and some have i an evil eye/ and are in- 
" fectious, some look healthfully as a friendly 
" planet, and innocent as flowers ; and, as 
iC some fancies convey private effects to con- 
*« federate and allied bodies ; and between the 
" very vital spirits of friends and relatives 
" there is a cognation, and they refresh each 
" other like social plants ; and a good man is 
" a friend to every good man e : and (they say) 
" that an usurer knows an usurer, and one 
" rich man another, there being by the very 
" manners of men contracted a similitude of 
" nature, and a communication of effects ; 
"so in parents and their children there is so 
" great a society of nature and of manners, 
" of blessing and cursing, that an evil parent 
s< cannot perish in a single death ; and holy 
" parents never eat their meal of blessing 
" alone, but they make the room shine like 
" the fire of a holy sacrifice ; and a father's 
" or a mother's piety makes all the house 
" festival and full of joy from generation to 
" generation." 5 

e Aia/xsvs* «v n t&tvv (pi\la, 9 ecus av a-yaSol uxriv, ri 5e 

Aristot. Ethic. Nicom. lib. 8. c. 3. Edit. Wilkin- 
son, Oxon, 1803. 

( Summer half year, Serm*4. p, 230. 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



*35 



The two following sermons are on " the 
" Invalidity of a late or Death-bed Repent* 
" ance." Taylor has chosen the thirteenth 
chapter of the prophet Jeremiah, and sixteenth 
verse, for the text on which to ground the 
subject. After pointing out the various ways 
by which the Deity is glorified, and that 
" Repentance is the great glorification of 
(6 God he proceeds to assert the duty of 
repentance, and to limit the time of its per- 
formance. The former occupies the first part, 
and embraces this important duty in all its 
stages. In the second he pursues the- sub- 
ject, First, by shewing " what parts and in- 
ff gredients of repentance are assigned, when 
" it is described in holy Scripture Next, by 
If insisting on the necessities, the absolute ne- 
" cessities of a holy life Thirdly, " by con- 
" sidering what directions or intimations we 
" have concerning the last time of beginning 
" to repent ; and what is the longest period 
" that any man may venture with safety." 

" He that repents," says the Preacher, 
" confesses his own error, and the righteous- 
" ness of God's laws, and by judging himself, 
" acknowledges that he deserves punishment ; 
" and therefore that God is righteous, if he 
x 4 



i 3 6 



THE LIFE OF 



" punishes him : and, by returning, confesses 
" God to be the fountain of felicity, and the 
" foundation of true, solid, and permanent 
"joys, saying, in the sense and passion, of 
4< the disciples, ' Whither shall we go ? for 
" thou hast the words of eternal life •/ and, 
" by humbling himself, exalts God, by mak- 
" ing the proportions of distance, more im- 
" mense and vast. And as repentance does 
" contain in it all the parts of holy life which 
" can be performed by a returning sinner, (all 
" the acts and habits of virtue being but 
" parts, or instances, or effects of repent- 
" ance :) so all the actions of a holy life do 
" constitute the mass and body of all those 
" instruments whereby God is pleased to gio- 
<c rify himself. For if God is glorified in the 
" sun and moon, in the rare fabrick of the 
" honey-comb, in the discipline of bees, in the 
" ceconomy of ants, in the little houses of 
" birds, in the curiosity of an eye, God being 
" pleased to delight in those little images and 
" reflexes of himself from those pretty mirrors, 
" which like a crevice in a wall, through a 
" narrow perspective transmit the species of 
" a vast excellency : much rather shall God 
t£ be pleased to behold himself in the glasses 
" of our obedience, in the emissions of our 

12 



JEREMY TAYLOR. I 3 7 

" will and understanding ; these being ra- 
" tional and apt instruments to express him, 
" far better than the natural, as being nearer 
communications of himself." 5 

The deceitfulness of the heart is the next 
subject of his discourse, which he divides 
into two parts. He chooses his text from 
Jeremiah — " The heart is deceitful above 
ff all things, and desperately wicked ; who 
if can know it ?" He sets out by asserting 
that folly and subtilty divide the greatest 
part of mankind. That no man can know his 
heart — That it is deceitful in its strength ^ 
in its judgment of its own actions, in its re- 
solutions and purposes. Next, for the sake 
of disclosing more fully the treachery of the 
heart, he supposes our resolutions advanced 
beyond the state he has been describing, and 
that our will and choice also are determined. 
Yet still he shews that it is false, deceiving 
and deceived, in its intentions and designs. 
It is blind, wilfully blind ; impatient of reproof, 
it cannot bear to see its own stains, and like the 
elephant it tramples in the pure streams, 
and first troubles them, then stoops and 



* Serm. 5, summer half year. 



THE LIFE OF 



drinks, when he can least see his huge de- 
formity. In order to this, we heap up 
teachers of our own, and they guide us, not 
whither, but which way they please : for we 1 
are curious to go our own way, and careless 
of our hospital or inn at night. A fair way, 
and a merry company, and a pleasant easy 
guide will entice us into the enemies' quar- 
ters ; and such guides we cannot want. " Im~ 
" probitati occasio nunquam dejiiit." h To 
these imperfections of the heart he adds in- 
consideration and hardness, pride, and love 
of wickedness. And he closes the subject by 
an exhortation to watchfulness and morti- 
fication. 

His three next sermons are upon " the 
" Faith and Patience of the Saints; or, the 
te righteous Cause oppressed which he 
grounds upon the first Epistle of St. Peter, 
the fourth chapter, the seventeenth and 
eighteenth verses. He opens the subject by 
stating that until men were guided by the 
spirit and by revelation, they were accounted 
good or bad, according to their prosperity or 
adversity. 



h Serm. 8. p. 256. 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



*39 



But, because God sent wise men into the 
world, and they were treated rudely, and 
exercised with evil accidents, and this seemed 
so great a discouragement to virtue, that even 
these wise men were more troubled to recon- 
cile virtue and misery, than to reconcile their 
affections to the suffering, God was pleased 
to enlighten their reason with a little beam of 
faith, or else heightened their reason by 
wiser principles than those of vulgar under- 
standings, and taught them in the clear glass 
of faith, or the dim perspective of philosophy, 
to look beyond the cloud, and there to spy 
that there stood glories behind their curtain, 
to which they could not come but by passing 
through the cloud, and being wet with the 
dew of heaven and the waters of affliction. 
And according as the world grew more en- 
lightened by faith, so it grew more dark with 
mourning and sorrows. God sometimes sent 
a light fire, and a pillar of a cloud, and the 
brightness of an angel, and the lustre of a 
star, and the sacrament of a rainbow, to 
guide his people through their portion of sor- 
rows, and to lead them through troubles to 
rest : but as the Sun of Righteousness ap. 
proached towards the chambers of the east, 
and sent the harbingers of light peeping 



140 ' THE LIFE OF 

through the curtains of the" night, and leading 
on the day of faith and brightest revelation ; 
so God sent degrees of trouble upon wise and 
good men, that now in the same degree in 
the which the world lives by faith, and not 
by sense, in the same degree they might be 
able to live in virtue even while she lived in 
trouble, and not reject so great a beauty be- 
cause she goes in mourning, and hath a black 
cloud of cypress drawn before her face. Lite- 
rally thus : " God first entertained their ser- 
*' vices, and allured and prompted on the 
" infirmities of the infant world by temporal 
" prosperity ; but by degrees changed his 
" method, and as men grew stronger in the 
" knowledge, of God, and the expectation of 
" heaven, so they grew weaker in their for- 
" tunes, more afflicted in their bodies, more 
"abated in their expectations, more subject 
" to their enemies, and were to endure the 
" contradiction of sinners, and the immission 
•« of the sharpness of providence and divine 
" ceconomy." 1 

Having expatiated upon the method of 
divine Providence towards mankind, he pur- 

1 Semi. 9. p. 262. 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



141 



sues the subject by shewing that the state of 
the gospel is a state of suffering, not of tem- 
poral prosperity ; that this was exemplified in 
the life of Christ; and yet its persecutors, 
they that had overcome the world, could not 
strangle Christianity. "But so have I seen 
" the sun with a little ray of distant light, 
" challenge all the powers of darkness, and 
?< without violence or noise climbing up the 
" hill, hath made night so to retire, that its 
" memory was lost in the joys and spriteful- 
" ness of the morning : and Christianity 
without violence or armies, without resist- 
" ance and self preservation, without strength 
" or human eloquence, without challenging 
" of privileges or fighting against tyranny, 
*f without alteration of government and scan- 
" dal of princes, with its humility and meek- 
" ness, with toleration and patience, with 
" obedience and charity, with praying and 
" dying, did insensibly turn the world into 
" Christian, and Persecution into victory." k 

Next he enquires into the reasons of the 
Divine Providence in this administration of 
affairs, so far as God has been pleased to draw 

k " Faith and Practice of the Saints," serm. 9. 



THIS LIFE OF 



aside the veil, and to unfold the leaves of 
counsels, " Jf," he says, " we should look 
" under the skirts of the prosperous and pre- 
" vailing tyrant, we should find even in the 
" days of his joys such allays and abatements 
M of his pleasure, as may serve to represent 
" him presently miserable, besides his final 
" infelicities. For I have seen a young and 
? * healthful person warm and ruddy under a 
u poor and a thin garment, when at the same 
" time an old rich person hath been cold and 
" paralytick under a load of sables, and the 
«* skins of foxes. It is the body that makes 
" the clothes warm, not the clothes the body : 
" the spirit of a man makes felicity and con- 
** tent, not any spoils of a rich fortune wrapt 
" about a sickly and an uneasy soul. Apol- 
u lodorus was a traitor and a tyrant, and the 
" world wondered to see a bad man have so 
" good a fortune ; but knew not that he 
" nourished scorpions in his breast, and that 
" his liver and his heart were eaten up with 
" spectres and images of death : his thoughts 
" were full of interruptions, his dreams of 
" illusions ; his fancy was abused with real 
" troubles and fantastick images, imagining 
that he saw the Scythians flaying him alive, 
«' his daughters like pillars of fire dancing 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



u round about a cauldron in which himself 
" was boiling, and that his heart accused 
" itself to be the cause of all these evils. And 
although all tyrants have not imaginative 
" and fantastic consciences, yet all tyrants 
" shall die and come to judgment ; and such a 
" man is not to be feared, not at all to be 
" envied. And in the mean time can he be 
" said to escape who hath an unquiet con- 
" science, who is already designed for hell, 
" he whom God hates, and the people curse, 
" and who hath an evil name, and against 
" whom all good men pray, and many desire 
" to fight, and all wish him destroyed, and 
*' some contrive to do it? Is this man a 
" blessed man ? Is that man prosperous who 
" hath stolen a rich robe, and is in fear to 
" have his throat cut for it, and is fain to 
" defend it with the greatest difficulty and 
"the greatest danger ? Does not he drink 
" more sweetly that takes his beverage in an 
" earthen vessel, than he that looks and 
" searches into his golden chalices for fear of 
" poison, and looks pale at every sudden 
" noise, and sleeps in armour, and trusts 
" nobody, and does not trust God for his 
" safety, but does greater wickedness only to 
5C escape a while unpunished for his fonner 



144 



THE LIFE OF 



" crimes. ' Auro bibitur venerium* No 
" man goes about to poison a poor man's 
" pitcher, nor lays plots to forage his little 
" garden made for the hospital of two bee- 
'* hives, and the feasting of a few Pytha- 
" gorean herb-eaters. 

' l hk larpunv o<ry tAsov Yiy.urv 7r%vro{ 9 
*' 'Ovo' 07QV s'v [JiaKoLxr) n xui ao-^o^sAu (/.ey "ovHxp." 

Hesiod, E. xai H. v. 41. 

" They that admire the happiness of a 
" prosperous prevailing tyrant, know not the 
" felicities that dwell in innocent hearts, and 
" poor cottages and small fortunes." 1 

And that the persecuted may at least be 
pitied, and assisted in that of which they are 
capable, he lays down, in the last place, some 
rules by which they may learn to gather 
good from evil, crowns from the cross, glory 
from dishonour : that they who suffer for 
Christ, must do nothing against him ; must 
be indifferent what the instance be, so tha^, 
they may serve God ; must not be too forward 
to prognosticate evil and death to their 
enemies, but must solace themselves in the 



1 Serm. 10. p.' 2 76. 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



145 



surance of the divine justice, by general con- 
sideration ; and in particular, must pray for 
them that are our persecutors : that they must 
not trouble themselves by thinking how much 
they are afflicted, but consider how much 
they make of it. <£ Look not back upon him 
" that strikes thee," (says this irresistible 
orator,) " but upward to God that supports 
" thee, and forward to the crown that is set 
*« before thee : and then consider, if the 
" loss of thy estate hath taught thee to de- 
" spise the world \ whether thy poor fortune 
" hath made thee poor in spirit ; and if thy 
" uneasy prison sets thy soul at liberty, and 
" knocks off the fetters of a worse captivity. 
" For then the rod of sufferings turns into 
" crowns and sceptres, when every suffering 
" is a precept, and every change of condi- 
« tion produces a holy resolution, and the 
" state of sorrows makes the resolution ac- 
" tual and habitual, permanent and perse- 
" vering. For as the silk-worm eateth itself 
" out of a seed to become a little worm ; and 
" there feeding on the leaves of mulberries, 
" it grows till its coat be off, and then works 
" itself into a house of silk ; then casting 
" its pearly seeds for the young to breed, it 
c< leaveth its silk for man, and dieth all white 

L 



I46 THE LIFE OF 

" and winged in the shape of a flying crea- 
" ture : so is the progress of souls. 'When 
" they are regenerate by baptism, and have 
" cast off their first stains, and the skin of 
" worldly vanities, by feeding on the leaves 
" of Scriptures and the fruits of the vine, and 
" the joys of the sacraments, they encircle 
46 themselves in the rich garments of holy and 
" virtuous habits ; then, by leaving their 
" blood, which is the church's seed, to raise 
"upa new generation to God, they leave a 
" blessed memory, and fair example, and are 
" themselves turned into angels, whose feli- 
" city is to do the will of God, as their em- 
" ployment was in this world to suffer." m 

Next, he prescribes that our suffering be 
borne by a direct choice, not by collateral 
aids, and fantastic assistances; and lastly, 
when God has brought us into the school of 
Christ, and placed us in a state of suffering, 
he exhorts us to remember the advantages 
of that state. He closes this discourse by 
reverting to the last words of the text. " If 
" the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall 
" the wicked and the sinner appear ?" He 



* Serm. 11. p. 280, 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



•147 



observes, that the word " scarcely" implies 
" that the righteous is safe, but by intermedial 
" difficulties : he is safe in the midst of his per- 
" secutions ; they may disturb his rest, and 
" discompose his fancy, but they are like the 
46 fiery chariot of Elias ; he is encircled with 
" fire, and rare circumstances, and strange 
" usages, but is carried up to heaven in a robe 
" of flames. And so was Noah safe when the 
" flood came ; and was the great type, and in- 
" stance too, of the verification of this propo- 
s< sition; he was o dlxoao$ and 8<jcaiQ<rwvijs *>jV?; he 
" was put into a strange condition, perpetually 
" wandering, shut up in a prison of wood, 
*' living upon faith, having never had the ex- 
" perience of being safe in floods. And so 
" have I often seen young and unskilful per- 
" sons sitting in a little boat, when every 
" little wave, sporting about the sides of the 
" vessel, and every motion and dancing of the 
g| barge, seemed a danger, and made them 
" cling fast upon their fellows ; and yet all 
" the while they were as safe as if they sate 
" under a tree, while a gentle wind shaked 
" the leaves into a refreshment and a cooling 
" shade : and the unskilful, unexperienced 
" Christian shrieks out whenever his vessel 
"shakes, thinking it always in danger, that 



U8 



THE LIFE OF 



" the watery pavement is not stable and re- 
" sident like a rock ; and yet all his danger 
" is in himself, none at all from without : 
(i for he is indeed moving upon the waters, 
" but fastened to a rock : Faith is his found- 
" ation, and hope is his anchor, and death 
" is his harbour, and Christ is his pilot, and 
" heaven is his country ; and all the evils of 
" his poverty, or affronts of tribunals and evil 
" judges, of fears and sudden apprehensions, 
" are but like the loud wind blowing from the 
u right point, they make a noise, and drive 
" faster to the harbour : and if we do not 
€< leave the ship, and leap into the sea ; quit 
" the interest of religion, and run to the 
" securities of the world ; cut our cables, and 
" dissolve our hopes ; grow impatient, and 
" hug a wave, and dip in its embraces ; we 
" are as safe at sea, safer in the storm which 
tc God sends us, than in a calm when we are 
" befriended with the world." n 

The twelfth and thirteenth discourses in 
this course are upon " the Mercy of the 
" divine Judgments : or, God's method in 
" curing Sinners." The second chapter of 



Serin. ii. p.z82. 



JEREMY TAYLOR, 



149 



the epistle to the Romans and fourth verse, 
contains the text on which he rests what is 
here delivered. The subject is opened with 
a declaration, that all effluxes which have 
come from God, have been nothing but email- 
ations of his goodness in variety of circum- 
stances. He does us good to make us good, 
he does us benefits to make us happy. " The 
" first great instrument that God chuses to 
" bring us to him," says Taylor, " is profit 
" or benefit. God does this by his forbear- 
" ance and by his long-suffering." The 
former occupies the remainder of the first 
part of this discourse, and the second part is 
appropriated to the latter. He calls upon 
us to observe how it is that God's mercy 
prevails over all his works ; " it is even then 
" when nothing can be discerned but his 
" judgments ; for as when a famine had been 
" in Israel in the days of Ahab for three years 
" and a half, when the angry prophet Elijah 
" met the king, and presently a great wind 
" arose, and the dust blew into the eyes of 
" thern that walked abroad, and the face of ' 
" tTie heaven was black and all tempest, yet 
" then the prophet was most gentle, and God 
" began to forgive, and the heavens were more 
" beautiful than when the sun puts on the 
1 3 



i 5 o 



THE LIFE OF 



" brightest ornaments of a bridegroom, going 
" from his chambers of the east : so it is in 
" the oeconomy of the divine mercy ; when 
" God makes our faces black, and the winds 
" blow so loud till the cordage cracks, and 
" our gay fortunes split, and our houses are 
" dressed with cypress and yew, and the 
" mourners go about the streets, this is nothing 
" but the pompce misericordice, this is the fu- 
" neral of our sins, dressed indeed with 
" emblems of mourning, and proclaimed with 
" sad accents of death ; but the sight is re- 
" freshing, as the beauties of the field which 
" God had blessed, and the sounds are 
" healthful, as the noise of a physician." ° 

" O take heed," says this great Christian 
orator, " take heed of despising this good- 
" ness ; for this is one of God's latest acts to 
" save us ; he hath no way left beyond this, 
" but to punish us with a lasting judgment 
" and a poignant affliction. In the tomb of 
" Terentia certain lamps burned underground 
" many ages together ; but as soon as ever 
" they were brought into the air, and saw a 
M bigger light, they went out, never to be 



* Serm. 13. p. 296. 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



" re-enkindled. So long as we are in the 
** retirements of sorrow, of want, of fear, of 
" sickness, or of any sad accident, we are 
M burning and shining lamps but when 
" God comes with his avo#}, with his forbear- 
" ance, and lifts us up from the gates of 
" death, and carries us abroad into the open 
" air, that we converse with prosperity and 
" temptation, we go out in darkness, and 
" we cannot be preserved in heat and light, 
" but by still dwelling in the regions of 
" sorrow." p 

We come next to two sermons " on the 
" Growth in Grace which arise out of 
the consideration of the second epistle of 
St. Peter, chapter the third, and eighteenth 
verse. " When Christianity, like the « day- 
" spring from the East,' with a new light did 
" not only enlighten the world, but amazed 
" the minds of men, and entertained their 
* curiosities, and seized upon their warmer 
" and more pregnant affections ; it was no 
" wonder that whole nations were converted 
" at a sermon, multitudes were instantly pro- 
" fessed, and their understandings followed 

p See the first part of the Discourse on the Mercy of the 
Divine Judgments, p. 292. 

L 4 



THE LIFE OF 



" their affections, and their wills followed 
" their understandings, and they were con- 
" vinced by miracle, and overcome by grace, 
" and passionate with zeal, and wisely go- 
" verned by their guides, and ravished with 
" the sanctity of the doctrine, and the ho- 
" liness of their examples/' Thus does he 
introduce the subject, and having contrasted 
the primitive purity with the depravity of 
more modern times, he proceeds to point out 
the remedy in the text. First, he lays down 
what the state of grace is into which every 
one of us must be entered, that we may ad- 
vance in it. Secondly, the proper parts, 
acts, and offices of this progress : and thirdly, 
the signs, consequences, and proper signifi- 
cations, by which, if w T e cannot perceive the 
progression, yet afterwards we may find that 
we are advanced, and so judge of the state of 
our duty, and of our final condition of being 
saved. 

" A man cannot, after a state of sin, be in- 
" stantly a saint; the work of heaven is not 
" done in a flash of lightning, or a dash of 
" affectionate rain, or a few tears of a relent- 
" ing pity : God and his church have appoint- 
" ed holy intervals, and have taken portions 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



«53 



*" of our time for religion, that we may be 
" called off from the world, and remember 
" the end of our creation, and do honour to 
" God, and think of heaven with hearty 
" purposes and peremptory designs to get 
" thither. q " " Remember that God sent you 
" into the world for religion : we are but to 
" pass through our pleasant fields or our hard 
" labours, but to lodge a little while in our 
" fair palaces or our meaner cottages, but to 
" bait in the way at our full tables or with our 
" spare diet : but then only man does his pro- 
" per employments, when he prays, and does 
" charity, and mortifies his unruly appetites, 
" and restrains his violent passions, and be- 
" comes like to God, and imitates his Holy 
" Son, and writes after the copies of apostles 
"and saints/' * " It was observed by a 
" Spanish confessor, who was also a famous 
" preacher, that in persons not very religious, 
" the confessions which they made upon their 
" death-bed were the coldest, the most imper- 
" feet, and with less contrition than all that 
" he had observed them to make in many 
" years before. For so the canes of Egypt, 
" when they newly arise from their bed of 



* Serm. 14. p. 303. 



r Serm. 14. p. 204. 



*54 



THE LIFE OF 



" mud and slime of Nilus, start up into an 
" equal and continual length, and are in- 
" terrupted but with few knots, and are strong 
" and beauteous, with great distances and in- 
" tervals : but when they are grown to their 
" full length, they lessen into the point of a 
" pyramis, and multiply their knots and joints, 
" interrupting the fineness and smoothness of 
" its body. So are the steps and declensions 
" of him that does not grow in grace : at first, 
" when he springs'up from his impurity by the 
" waters of baptism and repentance, he grows 
" straight and strong, and suffers but few iri- 
" terruptions of piety, and his constant courses 
" of religion are but rarely intermitted, till 
" they ascend up to a full age, or towards the 
" ends of their life ; then they are weak, and 
" their devotions often intermitted, and their 
" breaches are frequent, and they seek ex- 
" cuses, and labour for dispensations, and love 
" God and religion less and less, till their old 
" age, instead of a crown of their virtue and 
" perseverance, ends in levity and unprofit- 
" able courses. Light and useless are the tufted 
feathers upon the cane, every wind can play 
" with it and abuse it, but no man can make 
** it useful. When, therefore, our piety in- 
" terrupts its greater and more solemn ex- 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



*55 



" pressions, and upon the return of the greater 
" offices and bigger solemnities, we find them 
« to come upon our spirits like the wave of 
" a tide, which retired only because it was 
" natural so to do, and yet came farther upon 
" the strand at the next rolling ; when every 
" new confession, every succeeding commu- 
** nion, every time of separation for more so- 
«? lemn and intense prayer, is better spent and 
" more affectionate, leaving a greater relish 
" upon the spirit, and possessing greater por- 
" tions of our affections, our reason and our 
" choice; then we may give God thanks, who 
" hath given us more grace to use that grace, 
" and a blessing to endeavour our duty, and 
" a blessing upon our endeavour."* 

Such are the sentiments of Taylor in the 
sermons on the Growth in Grace. Passages 
equally interesting and instructive may be 
found in the two sermons which follow ; " Of 
" Growth in Sin : or, the several States and 
" Degrees of Sinners, with the manner how 
" they are to be treated." " Of some have 
" compassion, making a difference : and others 
" save with fear, pulling them out of the fire," 



s Serm. 14. p. 305. 



156 



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Upon these words, chosen from the twenty- 
second and twenty-third verses of the epistle 
by St. Jude, he grounds his discourse. The 
subject is introduced by this impressive exor- 
dium. " Man hath but one entrance into the 
*' world, but a thousand ways to pass from 
" thence. And as it is in the natural, so it is 
" in the spiritual : nothing but the union of 
" faith and obedience can secure our regene- 
" ration, and our new-birth, and can bring us 
" to see the light of heaven ; but there are a 
" thousand passages of turning into darkness. 
" And it is not enough that our bodies are ex- 
" posed to so many sad infirmities and disho- 
" nourable imperfections, unless our souls also 
" be a subject capable of so many diseases, 
" irregular passions, false principles, accursed 
" habits and degrees of perverseness, that the 
" very kinds of them are reducible to a me- 
ff thod, and make up the part of a science. 
" There are variety of stages and descents to 
" death ; as there are diversity of torments, 
" and of sad regions of misery in hell, which 
" is the centre and kingdom of sorrows. But 
" that we may a little refresh the sadnesses of 
" this consideration ; for every one of these 
« ( stages of sin, God hath measured out a 
" proportion of mercy : for, < if sin abounds, 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 1 57 

f. grace shall much more abound and ' God 
" hath concluded all under sin,' not with 
" purpose to destroy us, but 6 ut omnium 
" misereatur, 9 that he might have mercy upon 
66 all ; that light may break forth from the 
" deepest inclosures of darkness, and mercy 
" may rejoice upon the recessions of justice, 
" and grace may triumph upon the ruins of 
" sin, and God may be glorified in the mi- 
" racles of our conversion, and the wonders 
" of our preservation, and glories of our being 
" saved." 1 

The preacher proceeds to shew who those 
persons are on whom we are to have com- 
passion. These he divides into four or- 
ders. The first are those that sin without 
observation of their particular state ; either 
because they are uninstructed in the special 
cases of conscience, or because they do an 
evil against which there is no express com- 
mandment : the second are those who en- 
tertain themselves with the beginnings and 
little entrances of sin : the next are those 
who are going to destruction, and (as mat- 
ters stand with them) they cannot, or think 



s Serm. 17. p. 315. 
10 



THE LIFE OF 



they cannot avoid it : and the last sort of 
persons who sin, and yet are to be treated 
according to the direction in the text, are 
those, who interrupt the course of an honest 
life with single acts of sin. In the next place, 
he adverts to the latter part of the words he 
has chosen from Scripture, concerning those 
whom the Apostle should endeavour to save 
with fear ; and after having pointed out the 
several states of such persons, he concludes 
the subject. 

" He that means to be temperate, and 
* avoid the crime and dishonour of being a 
" drunkard, must not love to partake of the 
" songs, or to bear a part in the foolish scenes 
" of laughter, which distract wisdom, and 
" fright her from the company. I have seen 
" the little purls of a spring sweat through 
" the bottom of a bank, and intinerate the 
" stubborn pavement, till it hatH made it fit 
" for the impression of a child's foot ; and it 
" was despised, like the descending pearls of 
" a misty morning, till it had opened its way, 
" and made a stream large enough to carry 
" away the ruins of the undermined strand, 
" and to invade the neighbouring gardens : 
" but then the despised drops were grown 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



*59 



" into an artificial river, and an intolerable 
" mischief. So are the first entrances of sin, 
" stopped with the antidotes of an hearty 
" prayer, and checked into sobriety by the 
" eye of a reverend man, or the counsels of 
" a single sermon : but when such beginnings 
" are neglected, and our religion hath not 
"in it so much philosophy as to think any 
f* thing evil as long as we can endure it, they 
" grow up to ulcers, and pestilential evils : 
" they destroy the soul by their abode, who 
" at their first entry might have been killed 
" with the pressure of a little finger."" 

" As the needle of a compass, when it is 
" directed to its beloved star, at the first ad- 
{I dresses waves on either side, and seems in- 
" different in his courtship of the rising or 
" declining sun, and when it seems first de- 
" termined to the North, stands awhile trem- 
" bling, as if it suffered inconvenience in the 
" first fruition of its desires, and stands not 
f still in full enjoyment till after first a great 
f* variety of motion, and then an undisturbed 
" posture : so is the piety, and so is the 
ft conversion of a man, wrought by degrees 



Serm, 16. p. 319. 



i6o 



THE LIFE OF 



" and several steps of imperfection : and at 
" first our choices are wavering, convinced 
" by the grace of God, and yet not per- 
" suaded ; and then persuaded, but not re- 
" solved ; and then resolved, but deferring 
" to begin ; and then beginning, but (as all 
" beginnings are) in weakness and uncer- 
" tainty ; and we fly out often into huge 
" indiscretions, and long to return to 
u Egypt : and when the storm is quite over, 
" we find little bublings and unevenesses upon 
" the face of the waters ; we often weaken 
" our own purposes by the returns of sin ; 
u and we do not call ourselves conquerors, till 
" by the long possession of virtues it is a 
" strange and unusual, and therefore an 
" uneasy and unpleasant thing, to act a 
" crime." v 

The two next sermons are upon " the 
" foolish Exchange." The sixteenth chapter 
of St. Matthew's gospel and twenty-sixth 
verse, supplied the text on which Taylor 
founded his doctrine in these discourses. In 
the opening of his subject, he contrasts what 
is the natural object of our hope and fear with 



* Serm. 17. p. 323 



JEREMY TAYLOR. l6l 

that which is presented to us under the new 
dispensation ; and then proceeds to the text. 
First, he considers the propositions of the 
exchange, the world and a man's soul, sup- 
posing all that is propounded were obtained, 
the whole world. Secondly, what is likely to 
be obtained really of the world, and what are 
the miseries of a lost soul. And he closes 
the subject with a practical application, and 
considerations of the greatest importance. 

" I consider," says Taylor, " that he that 
« is the greatest possessor in the world, enjoys 
" its best and most noble parts, and those 
" which are of most excellent perfection, but 
" in common with the inferior persons and 
u the most despicable of his kingdom. Can 
" the greatest prince enclose the sun, and set 
" one little star in his cabinet for his own use? 
" or secure to himself the gentle and benign 
" influences of any one constellation? Are not 
" his subjects' fields bedewed with the same 
" showers that water his gardens of plea- 
" sure ? 

" Nay those things which he esteems his 
" ornament and the singularity of his posses- 
" sions, are they not of more use to others 

M 



THE LIFE OF 



" than to himself? For suppose his garments 
" splendid and shining, like the robe of a 
" cherub, or the clothing of the fields, all that 
" he that wears them enjoys is, that they keep 
" him warm and clean, and modest ; and all 
" this is done by clean and less pompous 
" vestments ; and the beauty of them, which 
" distinguishes him from others is made to 
" please the eyes of the beholders ; an<J he is 
" like a fair bird, 5 ' " made wholly to be looked 
" on, that is to be enjoyed by every one 
"but himself: and the fairest face and the 
l< sparkling eye cannot perceive or enjoy their 
" own beauties but by reflexion. It is I that 
" am pleased with beholding his gaiety, and 
" the gay man in his greatest bravery is only 
" pleased because I am pleased with the sight; 
" so borrowing his little and imaginary com- 
" placency from the delight that I have, not 
" from any inherency of his own possession."" 

" Suppose a man lord of all the world, yet 
" since every thing is received, not according 
" to its own greatness and worth, but accord- 
" ing to the capacity of the receiver, it signi- 
" fies very little to our content, or to the riches 



w Serm. 18. p. 332, 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



«* of our possession. If any man should give 
" to a lion a fair meadow full of hay, or a 
" thousand quince trees ; or should give to 
" the goodly bull, the master and the fairest 
" of the whole herd, a thousand fair stags $ if 
" a man should present to a child a ship laden 
" with Persian carpets, and the ingredients of 
" the rich scarlet ; all these, being dispro- 
" portionate either to the appetite or to the 
< c understanding, could add nothing of con- 
" tent, and might declare the freeness of the 
6< presenter, but they upbraid the incapacity 
" of the receiver. And so it does if God 
" should give the whole world to any man. 
" He knows not what to do with it ; he can 
" use no more but according to the capacities 
" of a man ; he can use nothing but meat, 
" drink, and clothes ; and infinite riches, that 
" can give him changes of raiment every day 
" and a full table, do but give him a clean 
" trencher every bit he eats ; it signifies no 
" more but wantonness, and variety to the 
" same, not to any new purposes. He to 
" whom the \ world can be given to any pur- 
" pose greater than a private estate can 
" minister, must have new capacities created 
" in him: he needs the understanding of an 
" angel, to take the accounts of his estate ; 

M 2 



164 



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" he had need have a stomach like fire or the 
" grave, for else he can eat no more than one 
" of his healthful subjects ; and unless he 
•i hath an eye like the sun, and a motion 
" like that of a thought, and a bulk as big as 
" one of the orbs of heaven, the pleasures of 
" his eye can be no greater than to behold 
" the beauty of a little prospect from a hill, or 
" to look upon the heap of gold packed up in 
" a little room, or to doat upon a cabinet of 
" jewels, better than which there is no man 
" that sees at all but sees every day. For, 
" not to name the beauties and sparkling 
" diamonds of heaven, a man's, or a woman's, 
" or a hawk's eye is more beauteous, and ex- 
" cellent than all the jewels of his crown. 
" And when we remember that a beast, who 
" hath quicker senses than a man, yet hath 
" not so great delight in the fruition of any 
" object, because he wants understanding, 
" and the power to make reflex acts upon his 
" perception ; it will follow, that understand- 
" ing and knowledge is the greatest instru- 
" ment of pleasure, and he that is most 
" knowing hath a capacity to become happy, 
M which a less-knowing prince or a rich per- 
" son hath not : and in this only a man's 
u capacity is capable of enlargement. But 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



165 



" then, although they only have power to 
" relish any pleasure rightly who rightly 
" understand the nature, and degrees, and 
" essences, and ends of things ; yet they that 
" do so, understand also the variety and the 
" unsatisfyingness of the things of this world, 
" so that the relish^ which could not be great 
" but in a great understanding, appears con- 
" temptible, because its variety appears at 
" the same time : the understanding sees all, 
" and sees through it. x 

" Be ye wise as serpents, and harmless as 
" doves." Upon these words he grounds his 
three following discourses, " Of Christian 
" Prudence." He opens the subject by cal- 
ling to our recollection the prophecy of our 
Saviour, that his servants should meet with 
persecution: hence he shews the necessity 
of Christian prudence, which he divides 
into its parts and proper actions. He 
shews that it is the duty of Christian pru- 
dence to chuse the end of a Christian ; to 
pursue this end with fit means and pro- 
portionable instruments ; that it is its office 
to serve God so that we may at the same time 



* Serm.18. p. 333. 
M 3 



THE LIFE OF 



preserve our lives and estates, our interest^ 
and reputation for ourselves and our relatives, 
so far as they can consist together ; and so to 
order our affairs as in our whole conduct, to 
do honour to the religion we profess ; that it 
is its duty to be careful that the teachers of 
religion be themselves unobjectionable ; and 
not to suffer our souls to walk more alone, 
unguarded and unguided than in other actions 
and interests of our lives. These occupy the 
two first parts of his discourse. In the third 
he shews that, as it is a part of Christian 
prudence to take into the conduct of our 
souls a spiritual man for a guide ; so it is also 
of great moment that we be prudent in the 
choice of him whom we are to trust in so 
great an interest. " When St. John," he 
says, " was to separate false teachers from 
" true, he took no other course but to remark 
" the doctrine which was of God, and that 
" should be the mark of cognizance to dis- 
" tinguish right shepherds from robbers and 
" invaders : 1 every spirit that confesseth 
" ' that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, is 
" * of God ; he that denieth it, is not of God/ " 
" By this, he bids his scholars to avoid the then 
" existing sects of Ebion, Cerinthus, Simon 
" Magus, and such other persons as denied 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



" that Christ was at all before he came, or that 
" he came really in the flesh and proper hu- 
" manity. This is a clear note, and they that 
" conversed with St. John or believed his doc- 
" trine, were sufficiently instructed in the pre- 
" sent questions. But this note will signify 
" nothing to us ; for all sects of Christians 
u confess Jesus Christ come in the flesh, and 
" the sects that afterwards arose avoided that 
* 4 rock over which a great apostle had hung 
" out so plain a lantern. 

" In the following ages of the church, men 
" have been so nice in distinguishing misbe- 
" lievers, that they have invented and observed 
" some signs which indeed, in some cases, were 
" true, real appendages of false believers ; but 
" yet such were also, or might be, common to 
" them with good men and members of the 
" catholic church. Some few I shall remark, 
" and give a short account of, that by removing 
" the uncertain, we may fix our inquiries and 
" direct them by certain significations; lest this 
" art of prudence turn into folly and faction, 
" error and secular design." He then proceeds 
to state the various ways by which men have 
endeavoured io distinguish corrupt opinions 
from genuine, and closes the discourse, by 
m 4 



168 



THE LIFE OF 



cautions in forming our judgment on these 
points : he reminds us that we cannot expect, 
by the signs he has been mentioning, " to be 
" enabled to discover concerning all men, 
" whether they teach an error or no j that 
" in discerning of sects we must be careful to 
" distinguish the faults of men from the 
" evils of their doctrine ; and if we see a 
" design or an evil mark upon one doctrine, 
" we should divide it from the others that are 
" not spotted 7 . Above all things," says this 
wise and prudent disciple, " above all things, 
" those sects of Christians whose professed 
" doctrine brings destruction and diminution 
" to government, give the most intolerable 
" scandal and dishonour to the institution ; 
" and it had been impossible that Christianity 
" should have prevailed over the wisdom and 
" power of the Greeks and Romans, if it had 
" not been humble to superiors, patient of 
" injuries, charitable to the needy, a great 
" exacter of obedience to kings, even to 
" Heathens that they might be won and 
" convinced ; and to Persecutors that they 
" might be sweetened in their anger, or 
" upbraided for their cruel injustice ; for so 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 1 69 



" doth the humble ivy creep at the foot of 
" the oak, and leans upon its lowest base, and 
" begs shade and protection, and leave to 
" grow under its branches, and to give and 
" take mutual refreshment, and pay a friendly 
" influence for a mighty patronage ; and they 
" grow and dwell together, and are the most 
ft remarkable of friends and married pairs of 
" all the leafy nation. Religion of itself is 
" soft, easy, .and defenceless, and God hath 
" made it grow up with empires, and lean 
1 6 upon the arms of kings, and it cannot well 
" grow alone ; and if it shall, like the ivy, 
" suck the heart of the oak, upon whose body 
" it grew and was supported, it will be pulled 
" down from its usurped eminence, and fire 
" and shame shall be its portion." 2 

Christian simplicity follows the subject of 
Christian prudence in the order of Scripture ; 
and on that Taylor fixes our attention in his 
two next discourses. These he grounds on 
the latter part a of the verse, which he had 
chosen on the former occasion. He begins 
by reminding his hearers of the teacher from 
whom the precept proceeded ; and having 



z Serm. 21. p. 355. * 11 and harmless as doves." 



170 



THE LIFE OF 



defined the virtue contained in it, proceeds 
to enlarge upon its several offices, both of a 
public and private nature. 

" Nothing is easier," says this great mo- 
ralist, " than simplicity and ingenuity : it is 
" open and ready without trouble and arti- 
" ficial cares, fit for communities and the 
" proper virtue of men, the necessary appen- 
ff dage of useful speech, without which Ian- 
ft guage were given to men as nails and teeth 
" to lions, for nothing but to do mischief ; it 
"is a rare instrument of institution, and a 
*' certain token of courage, the companion of 
" goodness and a noble mind, the preserver 
" of friendship, the band of society, the se- 
" curity of merchants, and the blessing of 
" trade \ it prevents infinity of quarrels, and 
If appeals to judges, and suffers none of the 
" evils of jealousy. Men by simplicity con- 
" verse as do the angels ; they do their 
" own work, and secure their proper inte- 
" rest, and serve the publick, and do glory 
« to God." * 

The course of sermons for the summer half 



b Serm. 24. p. 382. 



JEREMY TAYLOR, 



171 



year, is closed by three discourses upon " the 
" Miracles of the Divine Mercy." He draws 
his doctrine from the fifth verse of the eighty- 
sixth Psalm. " For thou, Lord, art good 
" and ready to forgive, and plenteous in 
" mercy to all them that call upon thee." 
The two first parts of this subject he sub- 
divides into eleven sections, in which he 
points out, in order, several instances and 
degrees of God's mercy. In the third part 
he pursues a methcd less regular, telling his 
hearers that there are very many orders and 
conjugations of mercies : but because the 
numbers of them naturally tend to their own 
greatness, that is, to have no measure, he 
must reckon but a few more, and them also 
without order : for that they do descend upon 
us we see and feel, but by what order of 
things or causes, is as undiscerned as the 
head of Nilus, or a sudden remembrance of 
a long neglected and forgotten proposition. 

The subject was such as to awake all the 
energies of his mind, and all the fervour of 
his piety. How he has expressed himself 
under such impressions, may in some degree 
be known by these passages, with which the 
subject opens. 



172 



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" Man having destroyed that which God 
" delighted in, that is, the beauty of his soul, 
" fell into an evil portion, and being seized 
" upon by the divine justice, grew miserable, 
''and condemned to an incurable sorrow. 
" Adam being banished and undone, went 
" and lived a sad life in the mountains of 
" India, and turned his face and his prayers 
" towards paradise ; thither he sent his sighs, 
" to that place he directed his devotions, 
" there was his heart now, where his felicity 
" sometimes had been : but he knew not how 
" to return thither, for God was his enemy, 
" and by many of his attributes opposed him- 
" self against him." " In the midst of these 
" sadnesses God remembered his own crea- 
" ture, and pitied it, and by his mercy rescued 
" him from the hand of his power, and the 
" sword of his justice, and the guilt of his 
" punishment, and the disorder of his sin, 
" and placed him in that order of good things 
" where he ought to have stood. It was 
" mercy that preserved the noblest of God's 
" creatures here below ; he who stood con- 
" demned and undone under all the other 
" attributes of God, was only saved and res- 
" cued by his mercy : that it may be evident 
" that God's mercy is above all his works, 

10 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



173 



" and above all ours, greater than the crea- 
" tion, and greater than our sins. As is his 
" majesty, so is his mercy, that is, without 
" measures and without rules ; sitting in hea- 
" ven and filling all the world, calling for a 
" duty that he may give a blessing, making 
" man that he may save him, punishing him 
" that he may preserve him. And God's 
" justice bowed down to his mercy, and all 
" his power passed into mercy, and his om- 
" niscience converted into care and watch- 
" fulness, into providence and observation for 
" man's avail ; and heaven gave its influence 
'< for man, and rained showers for our food 
" and drink ; and the attributes and acts of 
" God sate at the foot of mercy, and all that 
" mercy descended upon the head of man : 
" For so the light of the world in the morn- 
'* ing of the creation was spread abroad like 
" a curtain, and dwelt no where, but filled 
" the expansion with a dissemination great as 
" the unfoldings of the air's looser garment, 
" or the wilder fringes of the fire, without 
" knots or order, or combination ; but God 
" gathered the beams in his hand, and united 
" them into a globe of fire, and all the light 
" of the world became the body of the sun ; 
" and he lent some to his weaker sister that 



174 



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" walks in the night, and guides a traveller, 
" and teaches him to distinguish a house from 
" a river, or a rock from a plain field. So is 
" the mercy of God, a vast expansum and a 
" huge ocean ; from eternal ages it dwelt 
" round about the throne of God, and it 
" filled all that infinite distance and space 
" that hath no measures but the will of God : 
" until God, desiring to communicate that 
" excellency, and make it relative, created 
" angels, that he might have persons capable 
u of huge gifts ; and man, who he knew 
" would need forgiveness." 



c Serm.25. p. 383. 



JEREMY TAYLOR, 



175 



CHAP. VII. 

FROM 165 1 TO 1655. 

TAYLOR was still in his retirement at 
Golden Grove, occupied as we have 
learned in ministering to the spiritual and 
temporal comfort of those who had given him 
an asylum ; and gaining a subsistence by 
tuition ; in which we may reasonably presume 
he was successful. Such genius, learning, and 
piety, could not fail to attract the attention 
of the superior class of society, even in a 
time of public discord ; and one instance is 
preserved in the following epitaph, to sanction 
this remark. 

M. S. 

" Griffini Lloyd de Cwmgwilly armigeri, qui 
" honestis parentibus Llanarthneiae natus, literarum 
M tyrocinia posuit sub summis viris Gul. Nicholsono 
" ep. postea Glocestrensi & Jer. Tayloro ep. Duno- 
" coronensi, qui grassante Cromwellii tyrannide 
* pueris instituendis victum in hac vicinia queri- 
« tabant," &c. &c. 



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Qualified as Taylor was, in a high degree, 
and anxious, as we may reasonably believe 
him to have been, to furnish his pupils with 
the excellences of classical knowledge, we 
may be well convinced he was still more 
careful to lay up in their minds the funda- 
mental principles of Christianity : and ac- 
cordingly we find that, in the very next year 
after he had published his Rule and Exercises 
of Holy Dying, he sent out « a short Cate- 
" chism, composed for the use of the Schools 
" in South Wales, 3 " conveying his opinion in 
this impressive passage from Plato, " Let this 
" truth be confessed and remain for ever, that 
" they who are well instructed, easily become 
" good men. b " This he afterwards reprinted, 
placing it under the head " Credenda," in 
his " Golden Grove." 

In the same year he consented to the pub- 
lication of " a Discourse of Baptism, its 
" institution, and efficacy upon all Believers;" 
which was only part of a projected work of a 
larger description. The address to the reader 
prefixed to this treatise gives the reason for 

' Printed in Lond. 12 1652. Brit. Mus. 
(jLtm, a^ov dyocQoi yiyonat* Plato de Legibus. 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 1 77 

its appearance before the publick in this sepa- 
rate form, and also throws some light upon 
his place of residence at that time, and the 
occupation of his mind. It states that " this 
portion of his work was not intended by the 
author to have been sent abroad thus by 
itselfi but was fitted to the air and mode of 
other discourses, wherewith he had designed 
it to be joined. But some persons of judg- 
ment, to whose perusal it was committed, sup- 
posing that if this should be kept in till those 
other could be finished, some disadvantage 
might arise to the cause which it asserts, 
wished and advised it might be published by 
itself. To whose desires the author, (against 
his first design,) condescended, upon this per- 
suasion, that though it appeared thus without 
some formalities and complements requisite to 
an entire treatise, yet, as to the thing itself, 
there was nothing wanting to it which he 
believed material to the question, or useful to 
the Church. And as for those arguments 
which, in " the Liberty of Prophecy ing," 
section 18, are alleged against Psedobaptism; 
and in the opinion of some do seem to stand 
in need of answering, he had it once in 
thought to comply with this desire : but upon 
these considerations he forbore, ist, Because 

N 



i 7 8 



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those arguments were not good in themselves, 
or to the question precisely considered : but 
only by relation to the preceding arguments 
there brought for Paedobaptism, they might 
seem good one against another, but these in 
the plea for the Anabaptists, had no strength, 
but what was accidental (as he conceived.) 
sdly, Because in this discourse he had really 
laid such grounds, and proved them, that 
upon their supposition all those arguments in 
the " Liberty of Prophecying," and all other 
which he ever heard of would fall of them- 
selves. 3dly, Because those arguments, to 
his sense, were so weak, and so relying upon 
failing and deceitful "principles, that he was 
loath to do them so much reputation, as to 
account them worthy the answering. 4thly, 
But because there might be some necessities 
which he knew not of, and were better ob- 
served by them who lived in the midst of 
them, than by himself, who was thrust into 
a retirement in Wales, therefore he accounted 
himself at rest on this particular, because he 
had understood that his very worthy friend, 
Dr. H. Hammond, had in his charity and 
humility, descended to answer that collection ; 
and hoped, that both their hands being so 
fast clasped in a mutual complication, would 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



I 79 



do some help and assistance to this question, 
by which the ark of the church was so vio- 
lently shaken." 

To this discourse was added " a Considera- 
" tion of the Practice of the Church in bap- 
" tizing Infants of believing parents : and the 
" practice justified," published in the suc- 
ceeding year . And these together form the 
sixth and seventh discourses in the Great 
Exemplar ; for which they were originally 
intended. 

After laying down what the rite of Bap- 
tism is, he proceeds to shew what are the 
benefits arising from it, and points out the 
first fruit to be, admission into Christ's king- 
dom; the next, adoption into the covenant; 
the third, a new birth, by which we enter 
into the new world, the new creation, the bles- 
sings and spiritualties of the kingdom. He 
asserts that, " In Baptism all our sins are 
" pardoned ; and not only this, but that 
" it puts us into a state of pardon for the 
" time to come." 

* Lib. Trin. Coll. Camb. G. 14. 50. Lond. by J. Flesher, 
for R. Royston, at the Angel in Ivie Lane. 1653. 

N 2 



i8o 



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The next benefit of Baptism, which is also 
a verification of this, he states, is a sanctifica- 
tion of the baptized person by the Spirit of 
Grace : and that to understand this we must 
consider it by its real effects, and what it pro- 
duces upon the soul. 

1st. It is suppletory of original righteous- 
ness, and the effect of the Spirit is " Light," 
or " Illumination. 9 ' And he descends upon 
us in Baptism, to become the principle of a 
new life. But all these intermedial blessings 
tend to a glorious conclusion ; for he adds, 
" Baptism consigns us to a holy Resurrection. 
" And lastly, by Baptism we are saved." It 
« now remains," he continues, " that we en- 
*' quire what concerns our duty, and in what 
" persons, or in what dispositions Baptism 
" produces all these glorious effects ? For, 
" the Sacraments of the Church work in the 
" virtue of Christ, but yet only upon such as 
66 are servants of Christ, and hinder not the 
" work of the Spirit of Grace." Having 
shortly delivered his opinion on this point, he 
thus concludes that part which relates to Bap- 
tism in general. The second part, concerning 
the baptizing of infants of Christian parents, 
is only an application of the principles here 

9 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



laid down, with some preliminary observa- 
tions. 

To the twenty-seven sermons, which he 
had published in the year one thousand six 
hundred and fifty-one, he added twenty-five 
discourses for the winter season; which 
together form a course of sermons for the 
whole year. These he brought out in the 
year one thousand six hundred and fifty- 
three, under the title " EviauTo/," and de- 
dicated to the Earl of Carbery, they having 
been first presented to God in the ministeries 
of his lordship's family. The three first 
sermons of this second collection are upon 
the subject of " Christ's Advent to Judg- 
4 « ment." The three next upon the " Return 
" of Prayers." Then follow three more upon 
" Godly Fear and to these succeed, two 
on " The Flesh and the Spirit." The residue 
are upon " Lukewarmness and Zeal," " The 
46 House of Feasting," " Mysteriousness and 
" Duties of Marriage," " The Fruits of Sin," 
« The Good and Evil Tongue," « Of Slander 
" and Flattery," and " The Duties of the 
" Tongue." These discourses were delivered 

d Brit. Mus. Bodl. Lond. by E. Coles, for R. Royston, 
l6 53« 

N 3 



1 82 THE LIFE OF 

when the neighbourhood in which he lived 
was almost destitute of spiritual ministration. 
" It was a blessing," he tells us, " for which 
" his patron had to thank God, that his 
" family was like Gideon's fleece, irriguous 
" with a dew from Heaven, when much of 
" the vicinage was dry; for he had cause to 
" remember, that Isaac complained of the 
" Philistines, who filled up his wells with 
" stones and rubbish, and left no beverage 
*' for the flocks, and therefore they could give 
" no milk to them that waited upon the 
" flocks, and the flocks could not be gathered, 
" nor fed, nor defended. It was a design of 
" ruin, and had in it the greatest hostility ; 
" and so it had been lately ; 

undique totis 

Usque adeo turbatur agris. En! ipse capellas 
Protinus aeger ago : hanc etiam vix, Tityre, duco. 

Virg. Eci. i, 1. 1 j. 

but this was not all. He had also to complain 
that " men felt not their greatest evil, and 
" were not sensible of their danger, nor 
" desirous of that which they most required. 
" For who would have had in him so little 
" worthy of a man, as not to have been the 
" more eager for the word of God, and of 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 1 83 

" holy ordinances, because they were so hard 
" to be obtained ?" 

Against this danger in future, and evil at 
the present, as his patron and all good men 
interposed their prayers, so had he added this 
little instance of his care and services : being 
willing to minister in all offices and varieties 
of employment, that he might by all means 
save some, and confirm others j or at least 
that he himself might be accepted of God in 
his desire to accomplish so great a purpose. 

These, together with « Asxa$ spfiofapouos" a 
supplement of ten sermons 6 preached after 
the Restoration ; the " Divine Institution," 
&c. " of the Office Ministerial/' " Rules and 
" Advice to the Clergy of the Diocese of 
" Down and Connor," and " Dr. Rust's Ser- 
" mon at Taylor's funeral" were collected 
and published in one volume folio. 

The fifth edition enlarged, containing the 
subjects already mentioned, is dated 1678. 

In other writings of this distinguished 
person the extent of learning, the depth of 

e The last Serm. is divided into two parts. 
N 4 



184 



THE LIFE OF 



research, the warmth of piety, and the acute- 
ness of casuistical discernment are conspicu- 
ous. But it is in this volume that knowledge* 
genius, and eloquence vie with each other for 
superiority. And whilst " grandeur of intel- 
" lect," sublimity of conception and richness 
of fancy have any power over the mind, so 
long will these discourses be considered 
amongst the most valuable treasures of 
English Literature. 

To give a close analysis of every sermon, 
is not the province of the biographer ; but a 
more general description, with some passages 
which characterize his manner, may bring the 
preacher once more into view, and make the 
dead still speak. 

Of the sermons that are published under 
the title " Eviauroc," the three first are on the 
final Advent. " Virtue and vice are so essen- 
" tially distinguished, and the distinction is 
" so necessary to be observed in order to the 
" well-being of men in private and in socie- 
" ties," says Taylor, " that to divide them in 
" themselves, and to separate them by suffi- 
" cient notices, and to distinguish them by 
" rewards, hath been designed by all laws j 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 1 85 



" which may make outward actions regular 
" but need not affect the inward, and con- 
" sequently many sins may pass unnoticed in 
" the present constitution of the world." 
This, he contends, is an argument for a ge- 
neral judgment. After establishing the true 
meaning of the text, (which he has chosen 
from the second epistle of St. Paul to the 
Corinthians, and tenth verse of the fifth 
chapter), he declares, that the drift of his 
discourse is to shew the awfulness of that 
judgment. Into an account of this last, this 
most momentous trial, he then enters, describ- 
ing the persons themselves, and the tribunal 
before which they shall be called, with all 
attendant circumstances. Lastly, he draws 
the attention to the Judge and all his attri- 
butes ; and closes his subject with the final 
sentence. 

" In that great multitude we shall meet 
" all those, who by their example and their 
" holy precepts, have, like tapers, enkindled 
" with a beam of the Sun of Righteousness 
" enlightened us, and taught us to walk in 
" the paths of justice. There we shall see 
" all those good men whom God sent to 
" preach to us, and recal us from human 



/ 



i86 



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" follies and inhuman practices : and when 
" we espy the good man, that chid us for our 
" last drunkenness or adulteries, it shall then 
" also be remembered, how we mocked at 
" counsel; and were civilly modest at reproof, 
" but laughed when the man was gone, and 
" accepted it for a religious compliment, and 
" took our leaves, and went and did the same 
«« again. But then things shall put on another 
" face, and that we smiled at here, and slighted 
" fondly, shall then be the greatest terror in 
" the world ; men shall feel that they once 
" laughed at their own destruction, and re- 
" jected health, when it was offered by a man 
" of God upon no other condition, but that 
" they would be wise, and not be in love with 
" death/ " — But " every sinner that repents 
" causes joy to Christ, and the joy is so great 
" that it runs over and wets the fair brows 
" and beauteous locks of cherubim and se- 
" raphim, and all the angels have a part of 
" that banquet ; then it is that our blessed 
" Lord feels the fruits of his holy death, 
" the acceptation of his holy sacrifice, the 
" graciousness of his person, the return of 
" his prayers. ,,f 



f First and second Sermons on Advent, p. 3 and 9, 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



187 



The three following sermons are grounded 
upon the thirty-first verse of the ninth chapter 
of St. John's gospel, and are upon the " Re- 
" turn of Prayers or, " the Conditions of a 
" prevailing Prayer." After some prelimi- 
nary observations upon the benefit of this 
duty, and yet the reluctance of man to take 
advantage of the benefit, he considers that 
God does not hear sinners while they continue 
such ; that they are neither fit to pray for 
themselves nor other men. That their prayers 
are an abomination to God, and an act of pro- 
fanation. That a wicked person, while he 
remains in that condition, is not the natural 
object of pity. And that this great truth is 
further shewn by the necessary and fit ap- 
pendages of prayer required in holy Scripture, 
as abstinence, temperance, charity, and chas- 
tity, and that we need not wonder that men 
pray so seldom, since where these are not 
found, there can be no inclination for so con- 
solatory a service. He then enters upon the 
consideration of the prayers of a good person, 
and the various circumstances which tend to 
hinder them from being acceptable; and 
lastly, he points out what degrees and cir- 
cumstances of piety are required to make us 
fit to be intercessors for others, and to pray 



i88 



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for them with probable effect. He shews, 
that no prayers for others can further prevail, 
than to remove the person to the next stage 
in order to felicity ; that as the person must 
be capable for whom we pray, so they that 
pray for others must be persons extraordinary, 
as persons of extraordinary piety, office, 
dignity, employment, or designation ; that 
on this ground, there is an infinite necessity, 
therefore, that ministers of religion should be 
very holy. And he concludes, by shortly 
considering the signs of the acceptance of 
our prayers. 

Anger he produces as the first thing that 
hinders prayer from obtaining its effects. 
For " prayer is the peace of the spirit, the 
" stillness of our thoughts, the evenness of 
" recollection, the seat of meditation, the rest 
" of our cares, and the calm of our tempest ; 
" prayer is the issue of a quiet mind, of un- 
" troubled thoughts, it is the daughter of 
" charity, and the sister of meekness ; and he 
" that prays to God with an angry, that is, 
" with a troubled and discomposed spirit, is 
" like him that retires into a battle to medi- 
" tate, and sets up his closet in the outer 
" quarters of an army, and chuses a frontier 



JEREMY TAYLOR* 



u garrison to be wise in. Anger is a perfect 
" alienation of the mind from prayer, and 
66 therefore is contrary to that attention^ 
" which presents our prayers in a right line 
" to God. For so have I seen a lark rising 
" from his bed of grass, and soaring upwards 
" singing as he rises, and hopes to get to 
"heaven, and climb above the clouds; but 
" the poor bird was beaten back with the 
" loud sighings of an eastern wind, and his 
" motion made irregular and inconstant, de- 
" scending more at every breath of the tem- 
" pest, than it could recover by the libration 
" and frequent weighings of his wings ; till 
" the little creature was forced to sit down 
" and pant, and stay till the storm was over, 
< and then it made a prosperous flight, and 
" did rise and sing as if it had learned musick 
" and motion from an angel g , as he passed 
" sometimes through the air about his mini- 
" steries here below : so is the prayer of a 
" good man ; when his affairs have required 
"business, and his business was matter" of 

. (( a winged messenger of heaven 

" When he bestrides the lazy-pacing clouds, 
" And sails upon the bosom of the air." 

Shakespeare, Rom. and Jul. act 2. sc. z* 



THE LIFE OF 



" discipline ; and his discipline was to pass 
" upon a sinning person, or had a design of 
" charity, his duty met with infirmities of 
" a man, and anger was its instrument, and 
" the instrument became stronger than the 
" prime agent, and raised a tempest, and 
" overruled the man ; and then his prayer 
" was broken, and his thoughts were troubled. 
" and his words went up towards a cloud, 
" and his thoughts pulled them back again, 
" and made them without intention ; and the 
m good man sighs for his infirmity, but must 
" be content to lose the prayer, and he must 
" recover it when his anger is removed, and 
" his spirit is becalmed, made even as the 
" brow of Jesus, and smooth like the heart 
" of God ; and then it ascends to heaven upon 
" the wings of the holy dove, and dwells with 
" God, till it returns like the useful bee, 
" loaden with a blessing and the dew of 
" heaven." h 

The seventh sermon in this collection is " of 
" Godly Fear," in which he grounds his con- 
siderations on part of the twenty-eighth and 

h Second Serm. on the Return of Prayers, p. 33. edit. 
1678. . 



JEREMY TAYLOR, 



I 9 I 



twenty-ninth verses of the twelfth chapter of 
St. Paul's epistle to the Hebrews. Having 
entered thoroughly into the meaning of this 
passage, and the words " godly fear," he pro- 
ceeds to shew, that it is always without despair, 
accompaniedtby an opinion honourable to God, 
and is operative, diligent, and instrumental 
to cautious and good conduct. Then he con- 
siders the characters and situations of men, in 
which fear ought to operate, and passes on 
to canvass the excess of fear as it degenerates 
into superstition. 

" Fear is the great bridle of intemperance, 
" the modesty of the spirit, and the restraint 
" of gaieties and dissolutions ; it is the girdle 
" to the soul, and the handmaid to repent- 
" ance, the arrest of sin, and the cure or 
" antidote to the spirit of reprobation; it 
" preserves our apprehensions of the divine 
" majesty, and hinders our single actions from 
" combining to sinful habits \ it is the mother of 
" consideration, and the nurse of sober coun- 
" sels, and it puts the soul to fermentation 
" and activity, making it to pass from trem- 
" bling to caution, from caution to careful- 
" ness, from carefulness to watchfulness, 



l<)2 THE' LIFE OF 

t( from thence to prudence ; and by the gates 
" and progresses of repentance, it leads the 
" soul on to love and to felicity, and to joys 
" in God, that shall never cease again. Fear 
" is the guard of a man in the days of pro- 
" sperity, and it stands upon the watch-towers, 
" and spies the approaching danger, and gives 
" warning to them that laugh loud, and feast 
" in the chambers of rejoicing, where a man 
" cannot consider, by reason of the noises of 
" wine, and jest, and musick ; and if pru- 
" dence takes it by the hand and leads it on 
" to duty, it is a state of grace, and an uni- 
4£ versal instrument to infant religion, and the 
6£ only security of the less perfect persons ; 
fi< and in all senses is that homage we owe to 
" God, who sends often to demand it, even 
Si then when he speaks in thunder, or smites 
ff by a plague, or awakens us by threatenings, 
" or discomposes our easiness by sad thoughts, 
" and tender eyes, and fearful hearts, and 
ft trembling considerations." 1 

With what a masterly hand does he de- 
lineate Pusillanimity. " The illusions of a 



1 Sermon on Godly Fear, part 3, p.6x. 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



*93 



" weak piety, or an unskilful, confident soul, 
" fancy to see mountains of difficulty ; but 
" touch them and they seem like clouds 
" riding upon the wings of the wind, and put 
" on shapes as we please to dream. He that 
" denies to give alms for fear of being poor, 
" or to entertain a disciple for fear of being 
" suspected of the party, or to own a duty for 
" fear of being put to venture for a crown ; 
" he that takes part of the intemperance 
" because he dares not displease the company, 
" or in any sense fears the fears of the world, 
" and not the fear of God, this man enters 
" into his portion of fear betimes, but it will 
" not be finished to eternal ages. To fear the 
" censures of men, when God is your judge ; 
" to fear their evil, when God is your de- 
" fence ; to fear death, when he is the 
" entrance to life and felicity, is unreson- 
" able and pernicious ; but if you will turn 
" your passion into duty, and joy, and se- 
" curity, fear to offend God, to enter volun- 
" tarily into temptation, fear the alluring face 
" of lust, and the smooth entertainments of 
" intemperance, fear the anger of God, when 
" you have deserved it ; and when you have 
" recovered from the snare, then infinitely fear 
" to return into that condition, in which who- 

o 



194 



THE LIFE OF 



" soever dwells is the heir of fear and eternal 
" sorrow."* 

The tenth and eleventh sermons embrace 
the subject of the two contending principles 
in human nature, the body and the spirit. 
Having ascertained the meaning of these 
terms, as they are expressed in the forty-first 
verse of the twenty-sixth chapter of St. 
Matthew's gospel, on which he builds his 
discourse ; he divides his matter into four 
heads, concerning the infirmities of our na- 
ture ; its weakness in the introduction of a 
state of grace, its daily pretensions and tempt- 
ations, its excuses and diminution of duty ; 
what remedy there is in the spirit to cure the 
evils of nature ; and how far the weakness of 
the flesh can consist with the spirit of grace 
in established Christians. 

" Our natural weakness appears best in 
" two things, even in the two great instances 
" of temptation, pleasure, and pain ; in both 
" which the flesh is destroyed if it be not 
" helped by a mighty grace, as certainly as 
" the canes do bow their heads before the 
" breath of a mighty wind. 

k Sermon of Godly Fear, part 3. p. 65. 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 1 95 

u But the weakness of the flesh, and the 
€< empire of ' Desire* is visible in nothing so 

much, as in the captivity and folly of wise 
" men. For you shall see some men fit to govern 
" a province, sober in their counsels, wise in 
" the conduct of their affairs, men of dis- 
< 6 course and reason, fit to sit with princes, or 
" to treat concerning peace and war, the fate 
" of empires and the changes of the world ; 
" yet these men shall fall at the beauty of a 
" woman, as a man dies of the blow of an 
** angel, or gives up his breath at the sentence 
" and decree of God. Is it not necessary, 
" that we take in auxiliaries from reason and 
" religion, from heaven and earth, from ob- 
" servation and experience, from hope and 
" fear, and cease to be what we are, lest we 
" become what we ought not ? It is certain 
" that in the cases of temptations to voluptu- 
" ousness, a man is naturally, as the prophet 
" said of Ephraim, like a pigeon that hath no 
« heart, no courage, no conduct, no resolu- 
" tion, no discourse, but falls as the water of 
«* Nilus when it comes to its cataracts, it falls 
" infinitely and without restraint." 1 

The twelfth, thirteenth and fourteenth ser- 

1 The FJesh and the Spirit, p. 69. 
O 2 



I96 THE LIFE OF 

mons comprehend the subject of " Luke- 
«* warmness and Zeal ; or spiritual Fervour ;** 
and are grounded upon the forty-eighth 
chapter of the Prophecy of Jeremiah and 
tenth verse. After having touched upon the 
subject of Christ's kingdom, both as it will be, 
and as it is at present, and shewn that the 
religion our Saviour taught was a spiritual 
religion ; he divides his discourse into three 
main branches : — First he demonstrates that 
God requires us to serve him with an entire 
worship and religion; next, that this service is 
to be performed with earnest and intense 
affection ; the whole purpose of which the 
preacher represents by several propositions; 
and he concludes, by considering zeal both in 
its due measure, and in its excess. 

" However it be very easy to have our 
" thoughts wander, yet it is our indiffer- 
" ency and lukewarmness that makes it so 
" natural : and you may observe it, that as long 
" as the light shines bright, and the fires of 
" devotion and desires flame out, so long the 
" mind of man stands close to the altar, and 
" waits upon the sacrifice ; but as the fires die 
«* and desires decay, so the mind steals away 
u and walks abroad to see the little images 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



€ f of beauty and pleasure, which it beholds 
" in the falling stars and little glow-worms of 
" the world. The river that runs slow and 
" creeps by the banks, and begs leave of every 
" turf to let it pass, is drawn into little hol- 
\* lownesses, and spends itself in small por- 
" tions, and dies with diversion ; but when it 
" runs with vigorousness and a full stream, 
" and breaks down every obstacle, making it 
" even as its own brow, it stays not to be 
" tempted with little avocations, and to creep 
" into holes, but runs into the sea through 
" full and useful channels; so is a man's 
" prayer, if it move upon the feet of an 
" abated appetite, it wanders into the society 
" of every trifling accident, and stays at the 
" corners of the fancy, and talks with every 
" object it meets, and cannot arrive at hea- 
" ven ; but when it is carried upon the wings 
" of passion and strong desires, a swift mo- 
" tion and a hungry appetite, it passes on 
" through all the intermedial region of 
" clouds, and stays not till it dwells at the 
" foot of the throne, where mercy sits, and 
" thence sends holy showers of refreshment. 
*' I deny not but some little drops will turn 
u aside, and fall from the full channel by the 
" weakness of the banks, and hollowness of 
° 3 



*9 8 



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" the passage ; but the main course is still 
" continued : and althougth the most earnest 
" and devout persons feel and complain of 
" some looseness of spirit, and unfixed atten- 
" tions, yet their love and their desire secure 
" the main portions, and make the prayer to 
" be strong, fervent and effectual.""* 

" To that fervour and zeal which is neces- 
c< sary and a duty, it is required that we be 
" constant and persevering. ' Esto Jidelis ad 
" mortem/ said the Spirit of God to the angel 
" of the church of Smyrna. * Be faithful unto 
a death, and I will give thee a crown of life.' 
" For he that is warm to day and cold to- 
" morrow, zealous in his religion and weary 
" in his practices, fierce in the beginning, and 
" slack and easy in his progress, hath not yet 
" well chosen what side he will be of; he sees 
" not reason enough for religion, and he hath 
" not confidence enough for its contrary ; 
" and therefore he is « duplicis animiy as 
" St. James calls him, of doubtful mind. For 
" religion is worth as much to day as yester- 
" day, and that cannot change though we do ; 
*' and if we do, we have left God, and whither 

m Serm. Lukewarmness and Zeal, Serm. 13. p. 94* 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



I 99 



" he can go that goes from God, his own 
" sorrows will soon enough instruct him. 
" This fire must never go out, but it must be 
** like the fire of heaven, it must shine like 
" the stars, though sometimes covered with a 
" cloud, or obscured by a greater light ; yet, 
" they dwell for ever in their orbs, and walk 
" in their circles, and observe their circum- 
" stances, but go not out by day nor night, 
" and set not when kings die, nor are ex- 
" tinguished when nations change their go- 
" vernments. So must the zeal of a Christian 
" be, a constant incentive of his duty, and 
" though sometimes his hand is drawn back 
" by violence or need, and his prayers short- 
" ened by the importunity of holiness, and 
" some parts omitted by necessities, and just 
u compliances, yet still the fire is kept alive ; 
" it burns within when the light breaks not 
" forth, and is eternal as the orb of fire, or 
" the embers of the altar of incense." 11 

The discourse on " the House of Feasting : 
" or, the Epicure's Measures/' is divided 
into two parts, and is drawn from the consi- 
deration of the fifteenth chapter of the first 

■ Serm. Lukewarmness and Zeal, p. 97* 
o 4 



2CO 



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epistle to the Corinthians and thirty-second 
verse. 44 Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow 
" we die." 44 This was the epicure's proverb, 
44 begun upon a weak mistake, started by 
" chance from the discourses of drink, and 
5< thought witty by the undiscerning company; 
" and it prevailed infinitely, because it struck 
44 their fancy luckily, and maintained the 
" merry-meeting ; but, as it happens com- 
" monly to such discourses, so this also, when 
" it comes to be examined by the consultations 
" of the morning, and the sober hours of 
" day, it seems the most witless, and the 
" most unreasonable in the world. When 
4 4 Seneca describes the spare diet of Epicurus 
44 and Metrodorus, he uses this expression ; 
44 4 tiberatiora sunt alimenta car certs : sepositos 
44 ad capitate supplicium 9 non lam anguste, 
44 qui occisuris est, pascit.' The prison keeps 
44 a better table, and he that is to kill the 
44 criminal to-morrow morning, gives him a 
44 better supper overnight. By this he in- 
44 tended to represent his meal to be very 
44 short : for as dying persons have but little 
44 stomach to feast high ; so they that mean to 
44 cut their throat will think it a vain expence 
44 to please it with delicacies, which after the 
" first alteration must be poured upon the 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 201 

"ground, and looked upon as the worst part 
" of the accursed thing. And there is also 
" the same proportion of unreasonableness, 
" that because men shall " die to-morrow," 
" and by the sentence and unalterable decree 
" of God, they are now descending to their 
" graves, that therefore they should first de- 
" stroy their reason, and then force dull time 
" to run faster, that they may die sottish as 
" beasts, and speedily as a fly : but they 
fj thought there was no life after this 9 or if 
" there were, it was without pleasure, and 
" every soul thrust into a hole, and a dorter 
" of a span's length allowed for his rest, and 
" for his walk ; and in the shades below no 
" numbering of healths by the numerical let- 
" ters of Philenium's name, no fat mul« 
"lets, no oysters of Lucrinus, no Lesbian 
" or Chian wines. TSto c-a$w$ avi^ms pMv 
Therefore now enjoy 
" the delicacies of nature, and feel the de« 
H scending wines distilling through the lim- 
ft beck of thy tongue and larynx, and suck 
" the delicious juice of fishes, the marrow of 
" the laborious ox, and the tender lard of 
ff Apulian swine, and the condited bellies of 



Martial, Lib. i. ep. 72. 



202 



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" the scarus ; but lose no time, for the sun 
" drives hard, and the shadow is long, and 
" the days of mourning are at hand, but the 
" number of the days of darkness and the 
" grave cannot be told. 

" Thus they thought they discoursed wise- 
" ly, and their wisdom was turned into folly ; 
" for all their acts of providence, and witty 
" securities of pleasure were nothing, but 
" unmanly prologues to death, fear, and 
" folly, sensuality and beastly pleasures." 

He proceeds to shew, that plenty and the 
pleasures of the world are no proper instru- 
ments of felicity ; that intemperance is a cer- 
tain enemy to it ; making life unpleasant, and 
death troublesome and intolerable ; and he 
closes the subject by laying down the rules 
and measures of temperance. 

" If men did but know," he says, " what 
" felicity dwells in the cottage of a virtuous 
" poor man, how sound he sleeps, how quiet 
" his breast, how composed his mind, how 
" free from care, how easy his provision, how 
" healthful his morning, how sober his night, 
" how moist his mouth, how joyful his heart, 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 20$ 

u they would never admire the noises, and 
" the diseases, the throng of passions, and 
" the violence of unnatural appetites, that 
44 fill the houses of the luxurious, and the 
" heart of the ambitious.' 1 " The private 
44 life, that which is freest from tumult and 
44 vanity, noise and luxury, business and am* 
" bition, nearest to nature, and a just enter- 
" tainment to our necessities - 9 that life is 
" nearest to felicity." 

Then he divides his subject into other 
heads, and shews that intemperance is an 
enemy to health. A constant full table has 
in it less pleasure than the temperate provi- 
sions of the labourer or the virtuous ; that 
intemperance is an impure fountain of vice > 
the destruction of wisdom ; and a dishonour to 
the person and nature of the man. 

44 Health is the opportunity of wisdom, the 
" fairest scene of religion, the advantages of 
44 the glorifications of God, the charitable 
" ministeries to men ; it is a state of joy and 
44 thanksgiving, and in every of its periods 
44 feels a pleasure from the blessed emanations 
44 of a merciful Providence. The world does 
" not minister, does not feel a greater plea- 



S04 



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" sure than to . be newly delivered from the 
44 racks of the gratings of the stone ; and no 
" organs, no harp, no lute can sound out the 
" praises of the Almighty Father so sprite- 
" fully, as the man that rises from his bed of 
" sorrows, and considers what an excellent 
" difference he feels from the groans and in- 
" tolerable accents of yesterday." 15 

" By faring deliciously every day men be- 
u come senseless of the evils of mankind, 
" inapprehensive of the troubles of their 
" brethren, unconcerned in the changes of 
" the world, and the cries of the poor, the 
" hunger of the fatherless, and the thirst of 
" widows.* 

" What wisdom can be expected from 
" them, whose soul dwells in clouds of meat, 
$< and floats up and down in wine, like the 
" spilled cups which fell from their hands, 
" when they could lift them to their heads no 
" longer ? It is a perfect shipwreck of a man, 
** the pilot is drunk, and the helm dashed in 
" pieces, and the ship first reels, and by swal- 
" lowing too much is itself swallowed up at 
" last. And therefore the Navis Agrigentina, 



p P. no. 



*P. 112. 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



205 



« the madness of the young fellows of Agri- 
" gentum, who being drunk, fancied them* 
H selves in a storm, and the house, the ship, 
" was more than the wild fancy of their cups, 
" it was really so, they were all cast away, 
" they were broken in pieces by the foul dis- 
" order of the storm. The senses languish, 
" the spark of divinity that dwells within is 
" quenched ; and the mind snorts, dead with 
14 sleep and fulness." 1 " 

" Though no man think himself fit to be 
" despised, yet he is willing to make himself 
*' a beast, a sot, and a ridiculous monkey, 
" with the follies and vapours of wine ; and 
" when he is high in drink or fancy, proud as 
u a Grecian orator in the midst of his popular 
" noises ; at the same time he shall talk such 
" dirty language, such mean, low things, as 
" may well become a changeling or a fool, for 
" whom the stocks are prepared by the laws. 
« Every drunkard clothes his head with a 
" mighty scorn ; and makes himself lower at 
" that time than the meanest of his servants ; 
" the boys can laugh at him when he is led 
«« by like a cripple, directed like a blind man, 
" and speaks like an infant, imperfect noises, 

x R 115. 



206 



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" lisping with a full and spongy tongue, and 
" an empty head, and a vain foolish heart : so 
" cheaply does he part with his honour for 
" drink or loads of meat ; for which honour 
" he is ready to die, rather than hear it to be 
" disparaged by another ; when himself de- 
" stroys it, as bubbles perish with the breath 
« of children." 5 

Numerous as the passages are which attract 
attention in the sermons on the House of 
Feasting, they are surpassed by the strength 
and beauty of those which discover themselves 
throughout the two following discourses — 
On " The Marriage Ring : or the Mysteri- 
" ousness and Duties of Marriage." 

After stating that marriage was of divine 
constitution, and hallowed by a blessing ; he 
contrasts it with celibacy. " Here," he says, 
" is the proper scene of piety and patience, 
" of the duty of parents and charity of rela- 
" tives ; here kindness is spread abroad, and 
" love is united and made firm as a centre : 
u marriage is the nursery of heaven ; the vir- 
" gin sends prayers to God, but she carries 



* P. 1 20. Serm. House of Feasting. 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



" but one soul to him ; but the state of mar- 
" riage fills up the numbers of the elect, and 
" hath in it the labour of love, and the deli- 
" cacies of friendship, the blessing of society, 
" and the union of hands and hearts ; it hath 
** in it less of beauty, but more of safety than 
" the single life ; it hath more care, but less 
" danger ; it is more merry, and more sad ; 
" is fuller of sorrows, and fuller of joys; it lies 
" under more burdens, but is supported by all 
" the strength of love and charity, and those 
" burdens are delightful. Marriage is the mo* 
" ther of the world, and preserves kingdoms, 
" and fills cities and churches, and heaven it- 
& self. Celibacy, like the fly in the heart of 
" an apple, dwells in perpetual sweetness, but 
" sits alone, and is confined and dies in sin- 
" gularity ; but marriage, like the useful 
" bee, builds a house and gathers sweetness 
" from every flower, and labours and unites 
" into societies and republicks, and sends out 
" colonies, and feeds the world with delica- 
* eies, and obeys their king, and keeps order, 
" and exercises many virtues, and promotes 
" the interest of mankind, and is that state 
" of good things to which God hath designed 
" the present constitution of the world." 

9 



208 



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The preacher then lays down the duly as it 
generally relates to man and wife. The duty 
and power of the man ; and the rights and 
privileges, and the duty of the woman. 

" They that enter into the state of mar- 
" riage, cast a dye of the greatest con tin- 
" gency, and yet of the greatest interest in 
" the world, next to the last throw for 
" eternity. 

***H paXd \vygo; oXsO^oj * A^aoi;, r,\ la; vou.*" U.K. 173. 

" Life or death, felicity or a lasting sorrow, 
" are in the power of marriage. A woman, 
" indeed, ventures most, for she hath no sanc- 
" tuary to retire to from an evil husband ; 
" she must dwell upon her sorrow;" and "she 
" is more under it, because her tormentor 
<$ hath a warrant of prerogative, and the 
u woman may complain to God as subjects 
" do of tyrant princes, but otherwise she hath 
" no appeal in the causes of unkindness. And 
" though the man can run from many hours 

c «« Each single Greek, in this conclusive strife, 
* Stands on the sharpest edge of death or life." 

Pope's transl. 10. 1.196. 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



209 



€S of his sadness, yet be must return to it 
" again, and when he sits among his neigh- 
" bours, he remembers the objection that lies 
" in his bosom, and he sighs deeply. 

" The boys and the pedlars, and the fruit* 
" erers, shall tell of this man, when he is 
" carried to his grave, that he lived and died 
" a poor wretched person. The stags in the 
" Greek epigram, whose knees were clogged 
" with frozen snow upon the mountains, 
" came down to the brooks of the vallevs. 

" X^ VCii voregois ao-Qpeunv 'caxv yovu u , hoping to thaw 

" their joints with the waters of the stream ; 
" but there the frost overtook them, and bound 
" them fast in ice, till the young herdsmen 
" took them in their stronger snare. It is the 
" unhappy chance of many men, finding many 
" inconveniences upon the mountains of single 
" life, they descend into the valleys of mar- 
" riage to refresh their troubles, and there 
" they enter into fetters, and are bound to 
" sorrow by the cords of a man's or woman's 
" peevishness." " Every little thing can 
" blast an infant blossom ; and the breath of 
" the south can shake the little rings of the 

u " ^Xiwat VOTERS vdjxoicriv ukv yow" Brunck's A.nalecta, 
torn. 2. p. 135. ep. 15. 

P 



£10 



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" vine, when first they begin to curl like the 
" locks of a new-weaned boy ; but when by 
" age and consolidation they stiffen into the 
" hardness of a stem, and have, by the warm 
" embraces of the sun, and the kisses of hea- 
" ven, brought forth their clusters, they can 
" endure the storms of the north, and the 
«' loud noises of a tempest, and yet never be 
" broken : so are the early unions of an un- 
* 4 fixed marriage ; watchful and observant, 
"jealous and busy, inquisitive and careful, 
" and apt to take alarm at every unkind word. 
" For infirmities do not manifest themselves 
" in the first scenes, but in the succession of 
" a long society ; and it is not chance or 
" weakness, when it appears at first, but it is 
t* want of love or prudence, or it will be so 
c< expounded ; and that which appears ill at 
" first usually affrights the unexperienced 
" man or woman, who makes unequal con- 
" jectures, and fancies mighty sorrows by the 
" proportions of the new and early unkind* 
" ness. It is a very great passion, or a huge 
" folly, or a certain want of love, that cannot 
" preserve the colours and beauties of kind- 
' ' ness, so long as publick honesty requires a 
" man to wear their sorrows for the death 
" of a friend." " The little boy in the 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



211 



" Greek epigram, that was creeping down a 
M precipice, was invited to his safety by the 
" sight of his mother's pap, when nothing else 
!1 could entice him to return : and the bond 
" of common children, and the sight of her 
" that nurses what is most dear to him, and 
" the endearments of each other in the course 
" of a long society, and the same relation is 
" an excellent security to redintegrate and to 
" call that love back which folly and trifling 
" accidents would disturb. 

f* . . . . Tormentum ingens nubentibus baeret 
" Quae nequeunt parere, & partu retinere maritos." x 

" When it comes thus far, it is hard un- 
w twisting the knot." " There is nothing can 
" please a man without love ; and if a man be 
" weary of the wise discourses of the apostles, 
" and of the innocency of an even and pri- 
" vate fortune, or hates peace, or a fruitful 
" year, he hath reaped thorns and thistles 
" from the choicest flowers of paradise ; for 
" nothing can sweeten felicity itself, but love. 
" But Avhen a man dwells in love, then the 
" eyes of his wife are fair as the light of hea- 

x " . . . . Tormentum ingens nubentibus haeret 
** Quod nequeunt parere, et partu retinere maritos." 

Juvenal, ii. 137. 

P 2 ' 



212 THE LIFE OF 



u ven, and he can lay his sorrows down upon 
" her lap, and can retire home as to his sanc- 
" tuary and refectory, and his gardens of 
" sweetness and chaste refreshments. No 
" man can tell but he that loves his children, 
" how many delicious accents make a man's 
" heart dance in the pretty conversation of 
" those dear pledges ; their childishness, their 
" stammering, their little angers, their inno- 
" cence, their imperfections, their necessities 
" are so many little emanations of joy and 
" comfort to him that delights in their per- 
" sons and society ; but he that loves not his 
" wife and children, feeds a lioness at home, 
" and broods a nest of sorrows ; ,and blessing 
" itself cannot make him happy ; so that all 
" the commandments of God enjoining a man 
" to love his wife, are nothing but so many 
J s necessities and capacities of joy." " She 
ft that is loved is safe, and he that loves is 
" joyful." 

Such are the sentiments with which Taylor 
impressed the inhabitants of Golden Grove j 
where the happiness of conjugal life was ex- 
emplified in the family of his patron, and of 
himself. His tenderness as a parent w T ill be 
shewn in a subsequent part of his life, when 



JEREMY TAYLOR* 



213 



it had to undergo a trial as unexpected as it 
was severe. 

The three sermons following those on mar- 
riage are upon " The Fruits of Sin/ 5 which 
he builds upon the twenty-first verse of the 
sixth chapter of the Epistle to the Romans. 
He considers chiefly, what is the sum of sin- 
ful pleasure ; what fruit it leaves behind by 
its natural efficacy ; and what are its conse- 
quents by its demerits, and the infliction of 
the superadded wrath of God, which it hath 
deserved. These sermons are as full of clas- 
sical allusion as the rest of the collection, and 
set the subject strongly before the mind ; but 
they do not contain such striking marks of the 
style of Taylor as to require extraction. 

The course of sermons for the winter half- 
year is closed by four discourses on the go- 
vernment of conversation — The two first 
" On the Good and Evil Tongue. 5 ' The 
next " Of Slander and Flattery, 55 and the 
fourth on " The Duties of the Tongue. 5 * 
The fourth chapter of the Epistle to the 
Ephesians and twenty-ninth verse, is the text 
from which he draws his doctrine. Having 
made general observations on the subject, he 
p 3 



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enters into consideration of the vices of con- 
versation. First, by talking too much — 
as foolishly, with scurrility, in revealing 
secrets, common swearing and contentious 
wrangling, as well as by slander and flat- 
tery. Next he points out the virtues of 
conversation, exemplified by instruction, com- 
fort and reproof, 

Man most needs comfort, " and he feels his 
" brother's wants by his own experience, and 
u God hath given us speech, and the endear- 
M ments of society, and pleasantness of con- 
" versation, and powers of seasonable dis- 
" course, arguments to allay the sorrow, by 
" abating our apprehensions, and taking out 
" the sting, or telling the periods of comfort, 
" or exciting hope, or urging a precept, and 
" reconciling our affections, and reciting pro- 
" mises, or telling stories of the divine mercy, 
u or changing it into duty, or making the 
" burden less by comparing it with a greater, 
" or by proving it to be less than we deserve, 
" and that it is so intended, and may become 
" the instrument of virtue. And certain it 
" is, that as nothing can better do it, so there 
" is nothing greater for which God made our 
" tongues, next to reciting his praises, than 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



215 



£ to minister comfort to a weary soul. And 
6 what greater measure can we have, than 
£ that we should bring joy to our brother, 
c who with his dreary eyes looks to heaven 

* and round about, and cannot find so much 
I rest as to lay his eye-lids close together, 
f than that thy tongue should be tuned with 
6 heavenly accents, and make the weary soul 

* to listen for light and ease, and when he 

* perceives that there is such a thing in the 
f world, and in the order of things, as com- 
4 fort and joy, to begin to break out from the 

prison of his sorrows at the door of sighs 
and tears, and by little and little melt into 
showers and refreshment ? This is glory to 

* thy voice, and employment fit for the 
6 brightest angel. But so have I seen the 

sun kiss the frozen earth, which was bound 
up with the images of death, and the colder 
breath of the north ; and then the waters 
break from their inclosures, and melt with 
joy, and run in useful channels ; and the 
flies do rise again from their little graves in 
walls, and dance awhile in the air, to tell 
that their joy is within, and that the great 
mother of creatures will open the stock of 
her new refreshment, become useful to 
p 4 



2l6 



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<fi mankind, and sing praises to her redeemer : 
" so is the heart of a sorrowful man under 
" the discourses of a wise comforter ; he 
" breaks from the despairs of the grave, and 
" the fetters and chains of sorrow ; he blesses 
" God, and he blesses thee, and he feels 
" his life returning ; for to be miserable is 
" death, but nothing is life but to be com- 
" forted ; and God is pleased with no musick 
" from below so much as in the thanksgiving 
" songs of relieved widows, of supported 
" orphans, of rejoicing, and comforted, and 
" thankful persons. 

" It is a fearful thing to see a man despair- 
" ing. No one knows the sorrow and the in- 
" tolerable anguish but themselves, and they 
" that are damned ; and so are all the loads 
" of a wounded spirit, when the staff of a 
" man's broken fortune bows his head to the 
" ground, and sinks like an ozier under the 
" violence of a mighty tempest/ ,y 

Such is the fluency, feeling, and eloquence, 
which distinguish the style of Taylor in his 
sermons, a style for which he merits the 
y Serm. 25. p. 185, 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



217 



higher honour when contrasted with the 
pedantic degeneracy of the pulpit in the 
preceding age. 

Still engaged in the cause of truth, he pub- 
lished in the year 1654 — "The Real Presence 
" and Spiritual of Christ in the blessed sacra- 
" ment proved against the doctrine of Transub- 
" stantiation. 2 " This treatise he dedicated to 
a benevolent prelate, Dr. Warner, Bishop of 
Rochester a ; with whom, it will be found, he 
afterwards engaged in controversy. 

From the prefatory address it appears that 
it had its origin in a dispute in which he 
was accidentally engaged, against his resolu- 
tion and real disposition, with a person of the 
Romish party ; who appeared to rejoice that 
the church of England, as he thought, was 
destroyed. 

z Lond. 1654. 

a John Warner, Bishop of Rochester, was chaplain to king 
Charles the First, and raised to the mitre in 1637. He was 
educated at Magdalen Coll. Oxon. of which he was a 
Fellow. His knowledge of school divinity and of the fa- 
thers of the church was extensive. He died 14th October 
1666, aged 86. See Athen. Oxon. p. 250. vol. 2. There 
is a copy of '^The Real Presence, &c." in the Brit. Mus. 



2l8 



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" Though this question," he says, " hath so 
" often been disputed, and some things so 
" often said, yet I was willing to bring it 
" once more upon the stage, hoping to add 
" some clearness to it, by fitting it with a 
" good instrument, and clear conveyance and 
" representment, by saying some things new, 
"and very many which are not generally 
" known, and less generally noted ; and I 
" thought there was a present necessity of it, 
" because the emissaries of the church of 
" Rome are busy now to disturb the peace of 
" consciences by troubling the persecuted, 
" and ejecting scruples into the unfortunate, 
" who suspect every thing, and being weary 
" of all, are most ready to change for the 
" present. They have got a trick to ask, 
*' where is our church now ? what is be- 
" come of your articles of your religion ? We 
" cannot answer them, as they can be an- 
" swered ; for nothing satisfies them, but 
" being prosperous, and that we cannot pre- 
" tend to, but upon the accounts of the 
" cross ; and so we may indeed 6 rejoice 
" and be exceeding glad,' because we hope 
" that 4 great is our reward in heaven.' But 
" although they are pleased to use an argu- 
" ment that like Jonas' gourd or sparagus is 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



w in season only at some times, yet we, 
" according to the nature of truth, inquire 
" after the truth of religion upon the account 
" of proper and theological objections. Our 
" church may be a beloved church and dear 
" to God though she be persecuted, when 
" theirs is in an evil condition, by obtrud- 
" ing upon the Christian world articles of 
" religion, against all that which ought to be 
" the instruments of credibility and persua- 
" sion, by distorting and abusing the Sacra- 
" ments, by making error to be an art, and 
" that a man must be witty to make him- 
" self capable of being abused, by out-facing 
" all sense and reason, by condemning their 
" brethren for not making their understand- 
" ing servile and sottish, by burning them 
" they can get, and cursing them that they 
" cannot get, by doing so much violence to 
" their own reasons, and forcing themselves 
" to believe that no man ever spake against 
" their new device, by making a prodigious 
" error to be necessary to salvation, as if they 
" were lords of the faith of Christendom. 

" But these men are grown to that strange 
" triumphal gaiety, upon their joy that the 



220 



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" church of England as they think, is de~ 
" stroyed, that they tread upon her grave 
" which themselves have digged for her who 
" lives and pities them." 

Having stated to his friend, the bishop, his 
motives for entering upon the question, he 
goes into its merits ; and shews Transub- 
stantiation not to be warrantable by Scripture. 
He considers the sixth chapter of St. John's 
Gospel, which contains the words on which 
the Romish church builds that doctrine ; and 
passes on to the very sentence in which the 
institution of the Sacrament is conveyed ; and 
having considered the words separately, he 
dwells upon the manner and circumstances of 
the institution, with the things annexed. 

Next, he introduces the arguments which 
the adverse party deduce from Scripture, 
and then brings arguments from other parts 
of the New Testament, proving Christ's real 
presence in the sacrament to be only spiritual, 
not natural. He shews the doctrine of Tran- 
substantiation to be contrary to sense, to be 
wholly without, and opposite to reason, and 
not the doctrine of the primitive church, 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



And he concludes with observations on the 
adoration of the host. 

Such are the contents of this treatise, which 
is learned and convincing, but more laboured 
than his other writings. The third section 
contains an admirable exposition of the sixth 
chapter of St. John's Gospel, in which the 
meaning of the controverted passage is ascer- 
tained with accuracy. 

The short catechism which he had publish- 
ed for the youth of Wales, was now consider- 
ably enlarged, and published in the year 1655*, 
under the title of " the Guide of infant Devo- 
tion, or the Golden Grove c , a manual of daily, 
prayers and litanies fitted to the days of the 
week : containing a short summary of what 
is to be believed, practised, and desired. Also 
festival hymns, according to the manner of the 
ancient church." 

b E. 16. 14. Univ. Lib. Camb. Lond. 1655. 

c Taylor might be led to choose this title, not merely 
from his residence, but from " The Golden Grove moral- 
" ized, in three books, a work very necessary for all such 
*' as would know how to govern themselves, their houses, 
f* or their country ; 8vo. Lond. 1600 and 1608." Written 
by William Vaughan, uncle to Taylor's patron, the Earl 
of Carbery. 



222 



THE LIFE OF 



He divides his book into " Credenda 
" Agenda et Postulanda " and closes it with 
festival hymns d . The excellence of his ad- 
dress " to the pious and devout reader," is 
so great, both as an evidence of the author's 
incessant endeavour to guide the people in 
the way of peace, and of his sentiments 
towards the church of England, that it can- 
not fail of being acceptable to those persons 
who are desirous of becoming acquainted with 
the mind and character of Taylor. 

" In this sad declension of religion, the 
" seers, who are appointed to be the watchmen 
" of the church, cannot but observe that the 
" supplanters and underminers are gone out, 
" and are digging down the foundations ; and 
" having destroyed all public forms of eccle- 

d The " Guide for the Penitent," which is usually 
printed with " The Guide to Devotion," was not written 
by Taylor, as appears from the preface ; where it is said, 
" to the learned piety of a most reverend author thou 
" owest these following assistances, who, in the sweetness 
" and mildness of these lines, has expressed the features 
" and lineaments of his own candid, serene soul." And 
that " he was gone to receive his reward for them." 
This preface is in the edition of 1664, three years 
before the death of Taylor. It was written by Brian 
Duppa, Bishop of Winchester. See Wood's Athen. Oxon. 
vol. z. c. 177, 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



" siastical government, discountenanced an 
excellent liturgy, taken oiF the hinges of 
" unity, disgraced the articles of religion, 
" polluted public assemblies, taken away all 
" cognizance of schism, by mingling all sects, 
" and giving countenance to that against 
" which all power ought to stand upon their 
" guard. There is now nothing left, but that 
" we take care that men be Christians : for 
" concerning the ornament and advantages of 
" religion, we cannot make that provision we 
" desire ; incertis de salute, de gloria minime 
" certandum. For since they who have seen 
M Jerusalem in prosperity, and have forgotten 
" the order of morning and evening sacrifice, 
" and the beauty of the temple, will be 
" tempted to neglect so excellent a ministra- 
M tion, and their assembling themselves to- 
u gether for peace, and holy offices ; and be 
" content with any thing that is brought to 
" them, though it be but the husks and acorns 
«« of prodigals and swine, so they may enjoy 
" their lands and their money with it ; we 
" must now take care that the young men, 
who were born in the captivity, may be 
" taught how to worship the God of Israel 
" after the manner of their fore-fathers, till it 
" shall please God that religion shall return 



%%4 



THE LIFE OP 



u into the land, and dwell safely, and grow 
sc prosperously. 

" But never did the excellency of episcopal 
" government appear so demonstratively and 
" conspicuously as now : under their conduct 
" and order we had a church so united, so 
" orderly, so governed, a religion so settled, 
u articles so true, sufficient, and confessed, ca- 
" nons so prudent and so obeyed, devotions so 
f< regular and constant, sacraments so adorned 
" and ministered, churches so beauteous and 
" religious, circumstances of religion so grave 
" and prudent, so useful and apt for edifica- 
4t tion, that the enemies of our church, who 
£< serve the Pope in all things, and Jesus Christ 
" in some, who dare transgress an institution 
" and ordinance of Christ, but dare not break 
" a canon of the Pope, did despair of prevail- 
" ing against us and truth, and knew no hopes 
" but by setting their faces against us to de- 
" stroy this government, and then they knew 
" they should triumph without any enemy : 
" so Balaam the son of Bosor was sent for to 
" curse the people of the Lord, in hope that 
4 4 the son of Zippor might prevail against 
" them that had long prospered under the 
" conduct of Moses and Aaron. 
5 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 12$ 

€< But now, instead of this excellency of 
H condition and constitution of religion, the 
" people are fallen under the harrows and 
" saws of impertinent and ignorant preachers, 
" who think all religion is a sermon, and all 
" sermons ought to be libels against truth and 
" old governors,, and expound chapters that 
'* the meaning may never be understood, and 
" pray, that they may be thought able to talk, 
" but not to hold their peace, they casting 
" not to obtain any thing but wealth and 
" victory, power and plunder : and the peo- 
" pie have reaped the fruits apt to grow upon 
" such crab- stocks ; they grow idle and false, 
" hypocrites and careless; they deny them- 
" selves nothing that is pleasant; they despise 
" religion, forget government, and some never 
" think of heaven ; and they that do, think to 
" go thither in such paths which all the ages 
" of the church did give men warning oi\ 
" lest they should that way go to the DeviL 

" But when men have tried all they can, 
" it is to be supposed they will return to the 
" excellency and advantages of the christian 
" religion, as it is taught by the church of 
" England \ for by destroying it no end can 



226 



THE LIFE OF 



" be served but of sin and folly, faction and 
" death eternal. For besides that no church 
" that is enemy to this does worship God in 
" that truth of propositions, in that unblame- 
" able and pious liturgy, and in preaching 
" the necessities of holy life, so much as 
M the church of England does ; besides this, 
" (I say) it cannot be persecuted by any go- 
" vernor that understands his own interest, 
** unless he be first abused by false preachers, 
" and then prefers his secret opinion before 
" his public advantage. For no church in 
" the world is so great a friend to loyalty and 
" obedience as she, and her sisters of the 
" same persuasion. They that hate bishops 
*« have destroyed monarchy, and they that 
" would erect an ecclesiastical monarchy must 
% consequently subject the temporal to it 5 
" and both one and the other would be su- 
" preme in consciences : and they that govern 
" there with an opinion, that in all things 
" they ought to be attended to, will let their 
" prince govern others, so long as he will be 
" ruled by them. And certainly for a prince 
" to persecute the Protestant religion, is as 
" if a physician should endeavour to destroy 
" all medicaments, and fathers kill their sons, 



\ 



JEREMY TAYLORc 



227 



" and the master of ceremonies destroy all 
" formalities and courtships, and as if the 
" Pope should root out all the ecclesiastical 
if state. Nothing so combines with govern- 
" ment, if it be of God's appointment, as the 
" religion of the church of England, because 
" nothing does more adhere to the word of 
€( God, and disregard the crafty advantages 
" of the world. If any man shall not decline 
ft to try his title by the word of God, it is 
" certain there is not in the world a better 
" guard for it than the true Protestant reli- 
" gion, as it is taught in our church. But 
" let things be as it please God ; it is certain 
" that in that day when truth gets her vie- 
" tory, in that day we shall prevail against 
M all God's enemies and ours, not in the pur- 
f* chases and perquisites of the world, but in 
" the rewards and returns of holiness and pa- 
" tience, and faith and charity ; for by these 
" we worship God, and against this interest 
" we cannot serve any thing else. 

" In the mean time we must by all means 
* secure the foundation, and take care that 
" religion may be conveyed in all its material 
" parts, the same as it was, but by new and 
ff permitted instruments. For let us secure 

Q 2 



228 



THE LIFE OF 



" that our young men be good Christians, it 
*' is easy to make them good Protestants, un- 
" less they be abused with prejudice, and suck 
" venom with their milk ; they cannot leave 
4 1 our communion till they have reason to 
" reprove our doctrine. 

" There is therefore in the following pages 
" a compendium of what we are to believe, 
" what we are to do, and what to desire. It 
" is indeed very little ; but it is enough to 
" begin with, and will serve all persons so 
" long as they need milk, and not strong 
" meat. And he that hath given the follow- 
" ing assistances to thee, desires to be even a 
" door-keeper in God's house, and to be a 
" servant of the meanest* of God's servants, 
" and thinks it a worthy employment to teach 
" the most ignorant, and make them to know 
" Christ, though but in the first rudiments of 
" a holy institution. 

" This only he affirms, that there is a more 
" solid comfort and material support to a 
" Christian spirit in one article of faith, in 
" one period of the Lord's prayer, in one 
" holy lesson, than in all the disputes of im- 
< £ pertinent people, who take more pains to 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



229 < 



" prove there is a purgatory than to persuade 
" men to avoid hell. And that a plain cate- 
" chism can more instruct a soul, than the 
" whole day's prate which some daily spit 
" forth, to bid them 6 get Christ, 9 and perse- 
" cute his servants. 

" Christian religion is admirable for its 
" wisdom, for its simplicity ; and he that 
" presents the following papers to thee, de- 
" signs to teach thee as the church was taught 
" in the early days of the apostles ; to believe 
" the Christian faith, and to understand it ; 
" to represent plain rules of good life ; to 
" describe easy forms of prayer ; to bring 
" into your assemblies hymns of glorification 
" and thanksgiving, and psalms of prayer. 
" By these easy paths they lead Christ's little 
" ones into the fold of their great bishop : 
" and if by this any service be done to God, 
" any ministry to the soul of a child or an 
" ignorant woman, it is hoped that God will 
" accept it : and it is reward enough, if by 
" my ministry God will bring it to pass that 
" any soul shall be instructed, and brought 
" into that state of good things, that it shall 
" rejoice for ever. 

Q 3 



THE LIFE OF 



•f But do thou pray for him that desires 
w this to thee, and endeavours it. 

" Jer. Taylor." 

From a genius so sweet and fertile, so ener- 
getick and sublime as that of Taylor, some 
effort of the muse might be expected ; and it 
is not unreasonable to suppose that his cul- 
tivation of poetry was more extensive than 
appears in his publications. 

Some instances of his talent in this sort of 
composition are subjoined to the Golden 
Grove, called " Festival Hymns." Being all 
on religious subjects, they partake of that 
defect which is incidental to divine poetry, 
and fail in endeavouring to express what in- 
deed is beyond the reach of human language, 
the mysteries of religion and events con- 
cealed by the veil of futurity. They have 
also defects peculiar to the prevailing taste of 
the age in which they were written. But still 
there is an elevation of thought and dignity 
of expression in some of these poems which 
demonstrate them to be the production of no 
ordinary mind. Of this the following may be 
produced, as affording the best specimens. 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



OF HEAVEN. 

O beauteous God, uncircumscribed treasure 
Of an eternal pleasure, 
Thy throne is seated far 
Above the highest star, 

Where thou prepar'st a glorious place, 

Within the brightness of thy face, 
For ev'ry spirit 
To inherit 

That builds his hopes upon thy merit, 

And loves thee with a holy charity. 

What ravished heart, seraphic tongue, or eyes, 
Clear as the morning's rise, 
Can speak, or think, or see, 
That bright eternity, 

Where the great King's transparent throne 

Is of an entire jasper stone ? 

There the eye 
O'th' chrysolite, 
And a sky 

Of diamonds, rubies, chrysoprase, 

And, above all, thy holy face, 

Makes an eternal clarity. 

When thou thy jewels up dost binde, that day 
Remember us, we pray; 
That where the beryl lies, 
And the chrystal, 'bove the skies, 

There thou mai'st appoint us place, 

Within the brightness of thy face, 

Q 4 



THE LIFE GF 



And our soul 
In the scrowl 
Of life and blissfulness enrowl, 
That we may praise thee to eternity. 
AUelujah. 



THE SECOND HYMN FOR ADVENT; OR CHRIST^ 
COMING TO JERUSALEM IN TRIUMPH. 

Lord, come away, 
Why dost thou stay? 

Thy road is ready, and thy paths made straight 

With longing expectation wait 

The consecration of thy beauteous feet. 

Hide on triumphantly, behold we lay 

Our lusts and proud wills in thy way. 

Hosanna ! — welcome to our hearts. Lord, here 

Thou hast a temple too, and full as dear 

As that of Sion, and as full of sin, 

Nothing but thieves and robbers dwell therein : 

Enter and chase them forth, and cleanse the floor : 

Crucify them, that they may never more 

Profane that holy place, 

Where thou hast chose to set thy face. 

And then if our stiff tongues shall be 

Mute in the praises of thy Deity, 

The stones out of the temple wall 

Shall cry aloud and call 

Hosanna ! — and thy glorious footsteps greet. 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



233 



We are reminded in these lines of some 
passages in Cowley, and some turns of ex- 
pression in the earlier poems of Milton, who, 
though with the adverse party, is said to 
have held the writings of Taylor in high 
estimation. 



234 THE LIFE OF 



CHAR VIII. 

from 1655 to 1660. 

THE age in which Taylor lived, though 
discouraging to the feeble-minded, was 
in favour of the vigorous and the strong. 
Both genius and piety burn with greater fer- 
vour and brightness in proportion as the 
world becomes less engaging : and perse- 
cution is the test of Christian fortitude. Pow- 
erful opposition calls into action all the energy 
of resistance. And the storm that drove the 
human creature to seek shelter in the vale of 
the mountains, only urged the spirit to break 
forth at every aperture. 

Alive to every passing occurrence, the soul 
of Taylor manifests itself on every occasion. 
From the first day of his seclusion till he re- 
moved into Ireland, he seems to have allowed 
few subjects connected with the questions of 
those times to escape him. Most of these he 
handled with an adroitness that proved his 
versatility of genius and command of learn- 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



235 



ing. His zeal in opposing erroneous opinions 
sometimes, though rarely, obscured his judg- 
ment: an instance of which occurs in the 
" Unum Necessarium," or " the Doctrine and 
" Practice of Repentance j" which he pub- 
lished" 1 in the year 1655. 

His motive for engaging in this work was 
not merely to supply Christians in general 
with a treatise upon this important subject, 
but to place it in its proper light, in oppo- 
sition to the prevailing errors of the age ; to 
shew that " Repentance is not like the sum- 
" mer fruits, fit to be taken a little, and in 
" their own time ; it is like bread, the pro- 
" vision and support of our life, the enter- 
" tainment of every day, but it is the bread 
" of affliction to some, and the bread of care- 
" fulness to all : and he that preaches this 
" with the greatest zeal, and the greatest se- 
" verity, it may be he takes the liberty of an 
" ene^my, but he gives the counsel and the 
" assistance of a friend." 

The preface is addressed to the Bishops 5 of 
Salisbury and Rochester, and to the rest of 



• London 8vo. 1 Brian Duppa and John Warner. 



2 $6 THE LIFE OF 

the clergy of England ; to whom he thus 
expresses his reasons for giving this treatise 

to the world " When he had observed/* 

he tells them, " concerning the church of 
" England which is the most excellently in- 
" structed with a body of true articles, and 
" doctrines of holiness, with a discipline ma- 
" terial and prudent, with a government 
" apostolical, with dignities neither splendid 
" nor sordid, too great for contempt, and too 
" little for envy (unless they had met with 
p little people and greatly malicious) and in- 
" deed with every thing that could instruct 
ff or adorn a Christian church, so that she 
" wanted nothing but the continuance of 
f* peace, and what she already was ; when he 
" had observed that amongst all the stores of 
" excellent things, and books by which her 
" sons have ministered to piety and learning 
" both at home and abroad, there was the 
" greatest scarcity of books of cases of con- 
" science ; and that while he stood watching 
" that some or other should undertake it ac- 
" cording to the ability which God gave them; 
" and yet every one found himself hindered 
" or diverted, persecuted, or disabled, and 
44 still the work was left undone, he suffered 
" himself to be invited to put his hand to this 

5 



JEREMY TAYLOR* 



237 



" work, rather than that it should not be done 
" at all." 

This important subject he reduces to the 
following arrangement. First, he lays the 
foundation, and shews the necessity of re- 
pentance, in remedy of the unavoidable trans- 
gression of the covenant of works. Next he 
considers the possibility or impossibility of 
keeping the precepts of the Gospel ; how 
repentance and the precept of Christian per- 
fection can stand together ; and lastly, he 
reduces his doctrine to practice ; a method 
which he observes throughout the treatise. 

The nature and definition of repentance, the 
subjects of conversion, of the distinction of 
sins into mortal and venial, how far to be ad- 
mitted ; of actual single sins, of sinful habits, 
of concupiscence, and original sin; of sins 
of infirmity j of the effects of repentance y 
and lastly, of ecclesiastical penance, or the 
fruits of repentance 5 these, each ramified 
into considerations, which naturally spring 
from them, form the contents of the " Unum 
" Necessarium." 

His motive for entering upon it must be 



238 



THE LIFE OF 



applauded by all good men. Adversity taught 
him to enter deeply into the wretchedness of 
mankind. 

Stern rugged nurse ! thy rigid lore 

With patience many a year he bore ; 

What sorrow was thou bad'st him know, 

And from his own he learn'd to melt at others' woe. 

By the sad experience of his own miseries 
and the calamities of others, to whose restitu- 
tion he had been called to minister, he had 
been taught something of the secret of 
souls : and he had reason to think that 
the words of his Lord to St. Peter were 
also spoken to him. 6 6 Tu atrium conversus 
" conjirma fratres" He hoped he had 
received many of the mercies of a repent- 
ing sinner ; he had felt the turnings and 
varieties of spiritual intercourses : and he had 
often observed the advantages in ministering 
to others, and was confident that the greatest 
benefits of his office may with best effect be 
communicated to souls in personal and par- 
ticular ministrations. Impressed with such 
feelings, and possessing such qualifications, he 
entered upon the subject. It unavoidably 
led him into the consideration of original sin, 
and its effects : points which were at that time 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



2 39 



much controverted between the Arminian 
and Calvinistic parties, and he adopted the 
opinion of the former ; carrying it to a degree 
that the latter utterly condemned, and which 
the church of England does not approve. His 
sentiments with regard to the doctrine of 
original sin were then, and are at present, 
generally considered heterodox ; and are irre- 
concileable to the tenets of our church ; as 
laid down in her liturgy, articles, and ho- 
milies. 

This drew him into controversy. His 
friend, the Bishop of Rochester shewed his 
disapprobation of the chapter of original sin, 
in the " TJnum Necessarium" in a letter ad- 
dressed to Taylor, expressly on the occasion, 
and dated the 28th of July, in the year 1656 : 
which was not received till the nth of Sep- 
tember, owing to the situation in which Taylor 
was then placed. 

At the end of the year 1 654, the Royalists, 
who were still active, had made an insurrection 
at Salisbury, and brought upon themselves 



c Dr. John Warner, 



1 



240 THE LIFE OF 

and their friends the vengeance of the Pro- 
tector. Many were executed, some banished, 
and all were regarded with such suspicion by 
Cromwell, that he encreased the force of 
cavalry throughout the country. Taylor, 
though no insurgent, was yet too well known 
a royalist to escape the observation of the 
government, and was, at the date of the 
bishop's letter, a prisoner in Chepstow castle. 

In his reply he attributes the delay in the 
conveyance of the letter to this cause, and 
says, that it seemed R. Royston detained it 
in his hands, supposing it could not come 
safely to him, while he remained a prisoner. 
But though under a more severe restraint 
at first, he describes his present confine- 
ment as less oppressive, and tells the bishop, 
" he now had that liberty, that he could 
receive any letters, and send any; for the 
gentlemen under whose custody he was, as 
they were careful of their charges, so they 
were civil to his person." d 

Taylor's answer produced a rejoinder on 

d Answer to a letter written by the R. R. the Lord ^ 
Bishop of Rochester, &e. p. 895. Xv^oXov ©£©*oyixw. 



JEREMY TAYLOR* 



24I 



the part of the bishop, dated the e 10th of 
November, and 4 this again urged the former 
to a further reply. But it was not the Bishop 
of Rochester alone, who wished to convince 
Taylor of his error on this question. There 
were others f who lamented the opinions he 
had advanced, and were anxious to see them 
refuted. Amongst these was Doctor Robert 
Sanderson, afterwards Bishop of Lincoln : 
who in a letter to Mr. Thomas Barlow, dated 
Boothby Paynell, September the 28th, in the 
year 1656, urges him to undertake the manage- 
ment, as he expresses it, " of that dispute in 
" the question of great importance, upon the 
" ancient land-marks by Dr. Jeremy Taylor, 
** so unhappily (and so unseasonably too) en- 
" deavoured to be removed, in the doctrine 
" of original sin." And though Barlow 
appears to have declined the proposal, yet 
Sanderson renews the subject in another 
letter to the same person, dated the 17th of 
September, in the year following, and ex- 

e Taylor's second Letter in reply to the Bishop of 
Rochester. 

f In the Bodleian Library is a work entitled " Tolera- 
P tion tolerated, with reflections on Bishop Taylor's 
«' Opinion." 

R 



242 



THE LIFE OF 



presses himself " sorry that Doctor Taylor 
" was so peremptory and pertinacious of his 
" errors as not to hearken to the sober ad- 
" vices of his grave and learned friends, 
" amidst the distraction of the times." g 

Taylor, not satisfied with endeavouring to 
maintain his opinion in private, published in 
the same year, " Deus Justificatus, or a Vin- 
" dication of the Glory of the Divine Attri- 
" butes, in the question of Original Sin in 
a letter addressed to a person of quality h . And 
this was followed up by " A further Explica- 
" tion of the Doctrine of Original Sin, with 
" an Epistle Dedicatory, addressed to John 
" Warner, D.D. Bishop of Rochester." Hav- 

e From two letters in the possession of the Bishop of 
Peterborough, at the time Kennet formed his Register, 
and mentioned in that work, p. 633. 

Sanderson's first letter is directed " For Mr. Thomas 
" Barlow, at the library in Oxon." and is subscribed 
" Your very loving Friend and Servant, Robert Sander- 
" son." Dated Boothby Paynel, Sept. 28, 1656. — And 
his second letter is addressed to the same person, at 
Queen's College, Oxon. dated from the same place, Sept. 
27, 1657. Barlow was afterwards Bishop of Lincoln, and 
these are said to have been transcribed from the originals 
in his possession, see Kennel s Reg. p. 633. 

h Lond. i2mo. The person of quality appears in the 

course of the letter to be a noble lady. 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



2 45 



Ingin his former Treatises on this subject turn- 
ed to all the ways of Reason and Scripture ; 
he in this explication applied himself to ex- 
amine how it was affirmed by the first and best 
antiquity. On the appearance of the " Deus 
" Justificatus," he was attacked by Henry 
Jeanes and John Gaule 5 , the former minister 
of Chedzoy, in Somersetshire, the latter filling 
a similar situation at Staughton in the county 
of Huntingdon. 

However mistaken in the view which he 
took of this question, he vindicates himself 
with the boldness and fluency of a man of 
honest intentions. He replies to the bishop's 
first letter, by remarking that it professes to 
contain rather the captious objections of other 
people than Warner's own. He admits of 
original sin, but not what it is supposed to 
be ; he contends it is only by imputation, as 
an inlet to sickness, death, and disorder, not 
as introducing a necessity of sinning, or damn- 
ing to eternal punishment. He restricts the 
meaning of the word Damnation, as con- 
tained in the article of the church of England, 
to temporal condemnation ; as in the epistle 
to the Corinthians, and our Communion ser- 

* Bodleian. 
R 2 



244 THE LIFE 0F 

vice. He accounts it negative - y that natu- 
rally infants may fall short of heaven, but it 
does not follow, that they go to eternal tor- 
ment ; and he opposes strongly the doctrine 
of unbaptized infants being punished. He 
touches on the subject of confessions, and 
asserts, that they differ widely ; that he would 
subscribe to the first, but not to the second 
Helvetic. He contends that death became a 
punishment to those only who sin. He gives 
a critical analysis of the fifth chapter of the 
epistle to the Romans, and argues that ori- 
ginal sin is rather an original curse on our sin. 
He denies the doctrine of the imputation of 
Christ's righteousness, and says, it is an im- 
putation of our faith, &c. through Christ as 
righteousness, and lastly, he contends that it 
is against God's goodness and mode of pro- 
ceeding to punish the parent's sin in children. 
In reply, Warner requests him to examine 
the second chapter of the epistle to the Ephe- 
sians, and the fifth verse, and some passages 
in Jerom and Austin, which he cites. But 
this, far from satisfying Taylor, only produced 
the second reply; in which he asserts, that 
the passage in the epistle to the Ephesians 
does not relate to original sin : that concu- 
piscence is not sin, till something is super- 

5 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 245. 

added ; and that he follows fathers earlier 
than Jerom and Austin, 

His controversy with Jeanes, though almost 
immediately subsequent to the publication of 
44 Deus Justiflcatus," seems to have been 
brought on more by accident than design. 
Jeanes in his Address " to the unprejudiced 
reader," prefixed to the letters which he pub- 
lished on this subject, tells the public, that 
44 one Mr. T. C. k of Bridgwater, being at his 
44 house, brake out into extraordinary, (that 
" I say not excessive, and hyperbolical) praises 
44 of Dr. Jeremy Taylor : I expressed my con- 
" currence with him in great part ; nay, I 
" came nothing behind him in the just com- 
44 mendations of his admirable wit, great 
44 parts, quick and elegant pen, his abilities 
" in critical learning, and his profound skill 
44 in antiquity : but notwithstanding all this, 
" I professed my dissent from some of his 
" opinions which I judged to be erroneous-; 
" and I instanced in his doctrine of original 
" sin ; now his Further Explication of this lay 
44 then casually in the window 7 (as I take it), 



k I have not been able to discover the name of this com- 
mon friend of Taylor and Jeanes. 

K 3 



THE LIFE OF 



" which hereupon I took up, and turned unto 
" the passage now under debate, and shewed 
" unto Mr. T. C. that therein was gross non- 
" sense and blasphemy ; he for his own part, 
" with a great deal of modesty, forthwith de- 
" clined all further dispute of the business, 
* but withal he told me, that he would, if I 
" so pleased, give Dr. Taylor notice of what 
" I said ; whereunto I agreed, and in a short 
" time he brought me, from the Doctor, a 
" fair and civil invitation to send him my 
*' exceptions, and with it a promise of a can- 
u did reception of them ; whereupon I drew 
« them up in a letter to Mr. T. C." 

But before Taylor had received this, Mr. 
T. C. had given him an account of what he 
remembered in this conversation with Mr. 
Jeanes, and had obtained an answer, which is 
dated July the 4th in the year 1657 ; in which 
he declares the objection brought against him 
to be grounded on Mr. Jeane's mistaking 
the meaning of the passage. This answer 
Mr. T. C. sent to Mr. Jeanes ; which caused 
a rejoinder from him, dated the 31st of 
August, the same year, in which he com- 
ments upon Taylor's letter in terms that shew 
he was offended at the language in which it 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



247 



was expressed, and defends himself against 
the imputation of a want of clearness in un- 
derstanding the controverted passage. 

On the 1 5th of the same month Taylor 
had written directly to him ; in this letter he 
answers the first objections made against him, 
and concludes thus: " Sir, though I have rea- 
" son to give you the priority in every thing 
" else, yet in civility I have far outdone you : 
" you were offended at a passage, which you 
" might easily, but would not understand : 
" you have urged arguments against me, 
" which return upon your own head : the 
" proposition you charge me withal, I own 
" not in any of your senses l , nor (as you set 

1 Taylor here complains of his sentiments being misre- 
presented. He would have had greater cause for remon- 
strating against a writer of more modern times; who, in a 
letter of advice to the clergy of Northumberland, inserted 
passages from Taylor's works, much to his own purpose, 
but greatly to the prejudice of that learned man's charac- 
ter, by an unusual piece of fraud, in the manner of quota- 
tion. But this writer was not suffered to repose on his 
dishonesty. " A vindication of Bishop Taylor from the 
" injurious misrepresentations of him by the author of the 
" Letter to the Clergy of the Church of England in the 
f county of Northumberland, with a few remarks upon 
" some other passages in that letter," was printed at 
" Newcastle in 1733." On the fly-leaf, <{ A vindication, 
" &c. written by Thomas Sharp, D. D. archdeacon of 
R 4 



THE LIFE OF 

" it down) in any at all ; and yet your argu- 
" ments do not substantially or rationally 
" confute it, if I had said so : besides all 



Northumberland." There is reason to believe that very 
few copies of this little tract were ever published. It is of 
the small octavo size, and consists of twenty-three closely 
printed pages. A copy of it is preserved in the Lambeth 
library, which belonged to Archbishop Seeker. After 
stating that Taylor's sentiments were misrepresented, the 
Archdeacon says, " As the Bishop's polemical works, out 
*j of which these passages are taken, are in the hands of 
u few people, but his name and character universally 
" known, this cheat may possibly be attended with ill 
" consequence ; while his authority is vouched, and his 
" testimony produced, for doctrines vchich he never held ; 
" and there be very few even of the Clergy of Northum- 
(i berland themselves, who have the opportunity of exam- 
" ining how these passages lie in the place from whence 
" they are taken, and thereby detecting the iniquity and 
" double dealing of this their new correspondent. The 
" design, therefore, of this paper, is to set these quota- 
<4 tions in a true light," &c. 

Then follows a reference to the eighteenth section of 
the discourse u On the Liberty of Prophecying," entitled 
" A particular consideration of the opinions of the 
" Anabaptists. And here," says the Archdeacon, e< he 
" treats very largely and fully of their capital opinion 
* ( against the baptism of infants." Then follow several 
citations from Taylor's Discourse, and the quotations, 
with answers. " To confront," he observes, '* every sen- 
" tence that the writer of the letter hath quoted out of the 
u Bishop's Discourse, with its respective answer out of 

the same, in words at length, as is done in the three 
44 first sentences, would take up much room to little 



JEREMY TAYLOR, 



249 



" this, ) r ou have used your pleasure upon me, 
44 you have reviled me, slighted me, scorned 
44 me, un tempted, unprovoked : you never 
44 sent to me civilly to give you satisfaction 
44 in your objections, but talked it in my ab- 
44 sence, and to my prejudice ; yet I have 
44 sent you an answer, I hope satisfactory, and 
44 together with it a long letter, which in the 
44 midst of my many affairs, and straitened 
44 condition, is more than I can again afford : 
44 and after all this, I assure you that I will 
44 pray for you, and speak such good things of 
44 you, as I can find, or hear to be in you, 
44 and profess myself, and really be, Sir, 
44 vour affectionate friend and servant in our 
44 blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus." Post- 
script. 44 Sir, I received yours last night; 



fl purpose. This short specimen, with the reference to 
" those places in Bishop Taylor's book, where any person, 
" who has a mind to satisfy himself, will find the several 
44 answers, may be sufficient to justify that learned divine,, 
44 and to demonstrate the shameful want of ingenuity 
" [ingenuousness] and honesty in the letter writer, who 
44 could condescend to such a mean art as this, to give 
" some appearance of authority to his own weak reason- 
* i ings; and draw his reader, by a cheat, into a persuasion, 
44 into which he could not draw him by his argument." 

Taylor is again mentioned in the last page of the vindi- 
cation; and the rest of the tract is occupied by an address 
to the clergy of Northumberland on other matters. 



250 



THE LIFE OF 



" and I have returned you this, early this 
" morning, that I might in every thing be 
" respective of you ; but I desire not to be 
" troubled with any thing that is not very 
" material ; for I have business of much 
" greater concernment ; neither can I draw 
" the saw of contention with any man about 
" things less pertinent. I expect no answer, 
" I need none, I desire none ; but expect 
" that you will employ your good parts in 
" any thing rather than in being ingeniosus 
" in alieno-libro ; your talents can better (if 
' ' you please) serve God, than by cavilling 
" with, or without reason." 

Thus ended his part of the correspondence 
with Jeanes. But on the other side, his an- 
tagonist was not so easily satisfied, and re- 
turned a long answer, commenting upon 
every sentence contained in this letter. Some 
time after Jeanes resumed the attack in a 
treatise " of Original Righteousness, and its 
"contrary concupiscence 1 " to neither of 
which Taylor made any reply : — I close the 
account of this controversy with his unbiassed 
judgment on subjects of this kind in general. 

m Printed 1660, 4-to. Oxford. 



JEREMY TAYLOK, 2 5 1 

u I shall not be ashamed to say that I am 
< 6 weary and toiled with rowing up and down 
" in the seas of questions, which the interests 
" of Christendom have commenced, and in 
" many propositions of which I am heartily 
" persuaded, I am not certain that I am not 
" deceived ; and I find that men are confident 
" of articles that they can so little prove that 
" they never made questions of them, but I 
" am most certain that by living in the re- 
" ligion and the fear of God, in obedience to 
" the king, in the charities and duties of 
" communion with spiritual guides, in justice 
" and love with all the world in their several 
" proportions, I shall not fail of that end 
" which is perfective of human nature, and 
" which will never be obtained by disputing." 
And in his Epistle Dedicatory prefixed to his 
" further Explication, 5 ' he " professes with 
" all truth and ingenuity, that he would ra- 
" ther die than either willingly give occasion 
* e or countenance to a schism in the church 
" of England ; and he would suffer much evil 
" before he would displease his dear brethren 
" in the service of Jesus, and in the minis- 
" tries of the church." n 



"EvixfioXov OsoAoytKov. p* 743* 



THE LIFE OF 



But though some opinions in the " Unum 
" Necessarium" be generally considered ob- 
jectionable, neither the treatise itself, nor the 
letters written in vindication of its principles 
are to be totally disregarded. For if in some 
parts he lean too much to the notion of 
Adam and his posterity being reduced by the 
fall to the mere nature in which he was 
created ; yet, in the main, he enforces doc- 
trines universally received, and essential to 
the present and future welfare of mankind. 
Among the variety of duties which are in- 
cumbent on the Christian pastor, there is 
none more difficult, and yet more necessary, 
than that of personal ministration. To 
strengthen the weak, to restrain the arro- 
gant, to interest the lukewarm and to sa- 
tisfy the doubtful, requires not only a com- 
petent knowledge of scripture, but experience 
in the niceties of casuistical theology. Of 
this Taylor possessed a strong conviction : 
and knowing the value of it himselfi was 
anxious in this treatise/ to convey it to 
others. 

Taylor's confinement in Chepstow castle, 
could not have continued many months 
after the Autumn of the year 1656; for 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



2 53 



in the latter end of that year his family 
was attacked by the small-pox and fever, 
which deprived him at once of two of his 
sons . Trying as this visitation was, his piety 
did not forsake him, neither does a murmur 
seem to have escaped his lips. But 

" Though he thought as a Sage, yet he felt as a Man." 

Amidst this devastation of his family one son 
was spared to him ; and for his sake, as well 
as to recruit his own spirits, he declared his 
intention of quitting his residence in Wales 
and visiting London ; which proves that he 
was then free from restraint. In a letter to a 
friend, he thus expresses his intention and his 
present feelings : — 

" Dear Sir, I know you will either excuse 
" or acquit, or at least pardon me that I have 
" so long seemingly neglected to make a 
" return to your so kind and friendly letter ; 
" when I shall tell you that I have passed 
" through a great cloud, which hath wetted me 
" deeper than the skin. It pleased God to send 
" the small pox and fevers among my children, 

Bp. Rust says three sons in the space of two or three 
months. Fun. Serm. but I have followed the letter here 
inserted. 



THE LIFE OF 



" and I have, since I received your last, buried 
" two sweet, hopeful boys ; and have now but 
" one son left, whom I intend (if it please God) 
" to bring up to London before Easter, and 
" then I hope to wait upon you, and by your 
" sweet conversation and other divertisements 
" if not to alleviate my sorrows, yet at least 
" to entertain myself and keep me from too 
" intense and actual thinkings of my trouble. 
" Dear Sir, will you do so much for me as to 
" beg my pardon of Mr. Thurland, that I 
" have yet made no return to him for his so 
" friendly letter and expressions. Sir, you 
" see there is too much matter to make ex- 
" cuse ; my sorrow will at least render me an 
" object of every good man's pity and com- 
" miseration ; but for myself, I bless God, I 
<' have observed and felt so much mercy in this 
" angry dispensation of God's, that I am al- 
" most transported, I am sure, highly pleased 
" with thinking how infinitely sweet his mer- 
" cies are, when his judgments are so gracious. 
" Sir, there are many particulars in your 
** letter which I would fain have answered; 
" but still, my little sadnesses intervene, and 
" will yet suffer me to write nothing else : 
" but that I beg your prayers, and that you 
" will still own me to be, dear and honoured 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



255 



«< Sir, your very affectionate friend and hearty 
" servant, 

p « Jer. Taylor. 

" Feb. 22d, 1656—7." 

He accomplished his purpose of going to 
the capital 5 and having determined to relin- 
quish altogether his situation in Wales, he re- 
mained some time in London ; and officiated 
in a private congregation of loyalists, but not 
without great danger of persecution from the 
prevailing party. 

During the year in which he suffered under 
personal and domestic affliction, a treatise 
appeared, which is attributed to Taylor by 
Anthony Wood, and still occupies a place in 
the list of his writings. It is, "A Discourse 
" of Auxiliary Beauty, or Artificial Hand- 
" somenesse. In point of conscience between 
" two ladies." Printed for R. Royston q , (who 
was Taylor's bookseller) in the year of our 

p In copying this letter, the present mode of "spelling 
has been adopted. The original is preserved in the Brit. 
Mus. MSS. Donat. 4274. art. 51. It is remarkable that 
Taylor makes no reference to his wife or daughters on this 
occasion. 

« Lond, 



2$6 



THE LIFE OF 



Lord 1656. It was never published with 
his name, and doubts may still be enter- 
tained of its real author. The internal 
evidence does not corroborate the opinion 
of " the Publisher to the ingenuous reader, ,, 
that " a woman (as he was certainly ixu 
" formed) was not only the chief occasion, 
" but the author and writer of this dis- 
" course." It is a dialogue between two 
ladies : the one making objections against 
any superfluous ornaments, and particularly 
against adorning the face with colours not its 
own \ and the other answering them. 

The debate is conducted with gravity and 
skill, with a great command of scripture, 
some knowledge of the fathers, and of the 
most eminent writers of the church of Eng- 
land. And it concludes by a declaration on 
the part of the plaintiff, that the fair defend- 
ant had " by the force of her reason, re- 
" deemed her from that captivity, wherein by 
" a plebeian kind of censoriousness and po- 
" pular severity she sometime delighted, to 
" disparage and Jessen those, who are reported 
" or suspected to use any auxiliary beauty, 
" notwithstanding she saw in all things else 
" their worth and virtue, every way com- 



JEREMY TAYLOR* 



2 57 



"mendable, immutable, and sometimes ad- 
«' mirable : so much/' she says, " have you 
" made me a chearful conformist to your 
" judgment and charity, which I find follows 
" not easy and vulgar reports, but searcheth 
" the exacter rules of reason and religion ; 
" which lights, as they now shine in the 
" church of God, she did not think had left 
" mankind in the dark, as to any thing mo* 
" rally and eminently either good or evil." r 

Finding that many of his writings were out 
of print, and the booksellers willing to receive 
more of them, it was thought adviseable to 
collect into one volume, folio, several of his 
smaller pieces, with collateral improvements : 
and in the year 1657, he published a 
collection of them, under the title of 
" tvpfoxov tthxo-TtoXspiKov, or a collection of 
" Polemical and Moral Discourses." It is 

r Trin. Coll. Lib. Camb. V. 14. b. 25. Bp. Kennet seems 
not to have doubted the truth of Taylor being the author 
of this treatise ; for in p. 787 of his register he records? 
that in October 1662 appeared " A Discourse (or rather 
" another edition, for this was not the first, of ) a Dis- 
4( course of artificial beauty in point of conscience, be- 
«« tweeu two Ladies. By J. T. D. D. [i.e. Jeremy Tay- 
" lor, D. D. Lord Bishop of Down and Connor."] Lon* 
don 1662, 8vo. See this point discussed, Orthod. Church- 
man's Magaz. vol. 5. No. 33. 

$ 



258 



The life of 



dedicated to his friend and patron Lord 
Hatton ; and contains, the Golden Grove; an 
Apology for authorized and set Forms of 
Liturgy ; the Treatise on Episcopacy ; the 
real Presence and Spiritual of Christ in the 
Sacrament ; the Discourse on the Liberty of 
Prophecying; Deus Justificatus ; a Discourse 
of the Nature and Offices of Friendship ; a 
Sermon preached on the Anniversary of Gun- 
powder Treason in 1638 ; and Two Letters 
to persons changed in their Religion. 

Of these, the Discourse on Friendship and 
the two Letters are the only parts of the vo- 
lume that were then new. 

The former was brought out in duodecimo in 
the same year with this collection 5 . Amongst 
the many excellent pieces written by Taylor, 
it is questionable whether there be any more 
perfect than this on Friendship. It combines 
all that is excellent which the ancients have 
said upon the subject, and improves upon and 
elevates their opinions by the divine precepts 
of Christianity. It is expressed in a style as 
captivating as the sentiments are just. And 

8 See Rojston's list at the end of the third edition of 
" Great Exemplar," and Bodleian. 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 2 59 

the friendly disposition of Toylor so mani- 
festly pervades the whole, that it is doubtful 
whether the reader rises from this discourse 
most charmed with the subject or the writer* 
It gains something also from the amiable cha- 
racter to which it is addressed, Mrs. Katherine 
Philips ; a lady who was so eminent for her 
friendship, that Taylor says she herself could 
have given the best reply to those inquiries 
which produced this incomparable answer. 
She is better known by the title of the Match- 
less Orinda, and was the wife of James 
Philips, Esq. of the Priory at Cardigan. Her 
father, John Fowler, was a merchant in 
London, and resided in Bucklesbury ; and 
her mother was Katherine, the daughter of 
Doctor Daniel Oxenbridge, a Physician. She 
was born in the parish of St. Mary Woolchurch, 
and baptized on the eleventh of January in 
the year 1 63 1 ; she was educated at a school 
at Hackney which was kept by Mrs. Salmon, 
where she acquired an extensive knowledge 
of English, and was much attracted by the 
charms of poetry, though she was brought up 
a Presbyterian. After her marriage she went 
into Ireland with Viscountess Dungannon $ 
and whilst she stayed in Dublin she translated 
from the French the Tragedy of Pompey, 
s 2 



26o 



THE LIFE OF 



which was several times acted at the New 
Theatre in that city after the Restoration. In 
the year 1663, a surreptitious edition of her 
poems was brought out in London. Yet such 
was her modest opinion of her own endow- 
ments, that she could not be prevailed upon 
to correct the errors it contained by an edition 
under her own authority. In the spring of the 
year 1 664 she came to the metropolis, and re- 
sided in Fleet Street, where she caught the 
small-pox, of which she died, on the 2 2d 
of June of the same year ; and her re- 
mains were deposited in the church of St. 
Bennet Sherehog, at the end of Syth's 
Lane, under a gravestone, where her father, 
grandfather, and great-grandfather were also 
buried 1 . A correct edition of her poems 
was published in London in the year 1667, 
in folio ; to which is prefixed a short 
preface, written by one of her friends* It 
contains a letter upon the subject of the 
former edition, which had been sent into the 
world, without her knowledge, expressed with 
great modesty and sweetness ; in which she 
complains of the imprudence of the publisher, 
and says, " I thought a rock and a mountain 
" might have hidden me, and that it had been 

* Athen. Oxon. vol. 2! p. 284. 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



26l 



< c free for all to spend their solitude in what 
" reveries they please ; and that our rivers 
" (though they are babbling) would not have 
" betrayed the follies of impertinent thoughts 
" upon their banks ; but it is only 1 who am 
" that unfortunate person that cannot so 
" much as think in private, that must have 
" my imaginations rifled and exposed to play 
" the mountebank, and dance upon the ropes 
" to entertain all the rabble ; to undergo all 
" the raillery of the wits, and all the severity 
" of the wise, and to be the sport of some that 
" can, and some that cannot, read a verse." 

Her desire of concealing her authorship 
may be inferred from her mode of addressing 
her friends, under a feigned name. Amongst 
her poems is one, "To the noble Palaemon on 
" his incomparable Discourse of Friendship." 

" We had been still undone, wrapt in disguise, 
Secure, not happy ; cunning, and not wise ; 
War had been our design, int'rest our trade ; 
We had not dwelt in safety, but in shade, 
Hadst thou not hung out light, more welcome far 
Than wand'ring seamen think the northern star ; 
To shew, lest we our happiness should miss, 
Tis plac'd in friendship, man's and angel's bliss. 
Friendship, which had a scorn or mask been made, 
And still bad been derided or betray'd ; 

s 3 



2,62 



THE LIFE OF 



At which the great physician still had laugh'd, 

The soldier stormed, and the gallant scofPd ; 

Or worn not as a passion, but a plot, 

At first pretended, and at last forgot ; 

Had'st thou not been her great deliverer, 

At first discovered, and then rescued her, 

And raising what rude malice had flung down, 

Unveil'd her face, and then restor'd her crown : 

By so august an action to convince, 

'Tis greater to support than be a prince. 

Oh for a voice which, loud as thunder were, 

That all mankind thy conqu'ring truths might hear I 

Sure the litigious as amaz'd would stand, 

As fairy knights touch'd with Cambina's wand, 

Drawn by thy softer, and yet stronger charms, 

Nations and armies would lay down their arms. 

And what more honour can on tri^e be hurl'd, 

Than to protect a virtue, save a world ? 

But while great friendship thou hast copied out, 

Thou'st drawn thyself so well, that we may doubt 

Which most appears, thy candour or thy art, 

Whether we owe more to thy brain or heart. 

But this we know, without thy own consent, 

Thou'st rais'd thyself a glorious monument ; 

Temples and statues time will eat away, 

And tombs (like their inhabitants) decay ; 

But there Palaemon lives, and so he must 

When marbles crumble to forgotten dust. u 

Cowley, in his poem on her death, alluding to 
the disease which brought her to the grave, says, 



a Poems by Mrs* K*P. Loud. 1667, p. 14* 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



263 



" Was't not enough thus rudely to defile 

But thou must quite destroy the goodly pile ? 

And thy unbounded sacrilege commit 

On th' inward holiest holy of her wit ? 

Cruel disease ! there thou mistook'st thy power ; 

No mine of death can that devour ; 
On that embalmed name it will abide 

An everlasting pyramide, 
As high as heav'n the top, as earth the basis wide." 

Such was the interesting person, who was 
the cause of the discourse of the Nature and 
Offices of Friendship, and to whom it is ad- 
dressed. " You first inquire how far a dear 
" and a perfect friendship is authorized by 
" the principles of Christianity ?" says Taylor. 
" To this I answer ; that the word friend- 
" ship, in the sense we commonly mean by it, 
" is not so much as named in the New Tes- 
" tament ; and our religion takes no notice 
" of it. You think it strange ; but read on 
" before you spend so much as the beginning 
5f of a passion or a wonder upon it. There is 
" mention of 6 friendship of the world,' and 
" it is said to be 6 enmity with God but 
" the word is no where else named, or to any 
" other purpose in all the New Testament. 
u It speaks of friends often ; but by friends 
" are meant, our acquaintance, or our kin- 
" dred, the relatives of our family or our for- 



264 



THE LIFE OF 



C( tune, or our sect ; something of society, or 
" something of kindness there is in it ; a ten- 
" derness of appellation and civility, a rela- 
" tion made by gifts, or by duty, "by services 
" and subjection ; and I think, I have reason 
" to be confident, that the word friend (speak- 
" ing of human intercourse) is no otherways 
44 used in the gospels or epistles, or Acts of 
" the Apostles : and the reason of it is, the 
" word friend is of a large signification, and 
«< means all relations and societies, and what- 
" soever is not enemy ; but by friendships, I 
" suppose you mean, the greatest love, and 
" the greatest usefulness, and the most open 
" communication, and the noblest sufferings, 
" and the most exemplary faithfulness, and 
"the severest truth, and the heartiest coun- 
" sel, and the greatest union of minds, of 
" which brave men and women are capable. 
i€ But then I must tell you that Christianity 
" hath new christened it, and calls this cha- 
" rity. The Christian knows no enemy he 
" hath ; that is, though persons may be in- 
" jurious to him, and unworthy in them- 
" selves, yet he knows none whom he is not 
6 ' first bound to forgive, which is indeed to 
16 make them on his part to be no enemies, 
" that is, to make that the word enemy shall 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



265 



" not be perfectly contrary to friend, it shall 
" not be a relative term and signify some- 
" thing on each hand, a relative and a cor- 
" relative ; and then he knows none whom he 
" is not bound to love and pray for, to treat 
" kindly and justly, liberally and obligingly. 
" Christian charity is friendship to all the 
" world ; and when friendships were the 
" noblest things in the world, charity was 
" little, like the sun drawn in at a chink, 
" or his beams drawn into the centre of a 
" burning-glass ; but Christian charity is 
" friendship expanded, expanded like the 
" face of the sun when he mounts above the 
" eastern hills : and I was strangely pleased 
" when I saw something of this in Cicero ; 
" for I have been so pushed at by herds 
" and flocks of people that follow any body 
" that whistles to them, or drives them to 
" pasture, that I am grown afraid of any 
« truth that seems chargeable with singu- 
" larity : but therefore I say, glad I was when 
?1 I saw Lcelius in Cicero discourse thus. 
" Amicitia ex injinita societate generis kumani, 
" quam conciliavit ipsa natura, ita contracta 
" res est, et adducta in angustum, ut omnis 
" caritas aut inter duos, aut inter paucos jun- 
" geretur. Nature hath made friendships, 



266 



THE LIFE OF 



" and societies, relations and endearments ; 
" and by something or other we relate to all 
" the world ; there is enough in every man 
" that is willing, to make him become our 
" friend ; but when men contract friendships, 
« they inclose the commons, and what nature 
" intended should be every man's, we make 
" proper to two or three. Friendship is like 
w rivers and the strand of seas, and the air, 
" common to all the world ; but tyrants, and 
" evil customs, wars, and want of love have 
" made them proper and peculiar. But when 
" Christianity came to renew our nature, 
" and to restore our laws, and to increase her 
" privileges, and to make her aptness to be- 
" come religion, then it was declared that 
" our friendships were to be as universal as 
" our conversation ; that is, actual to all with 
" whom we converse, and potentially ex- 
" tended unto those with whom we did not. 
" For he who was to treat his enemies with 
" forgiveness and prayers, and love and bene- 
" licence, was indeed to have no enemies, and 
" to have all friends. 

" So that to your question, how far a dear 
u and perfect friendship is authorized by the 
" principles of Christianity ? The answer is 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



267 



«' ready and easy. It is warranted to extend 
" to all mankind ; and the more we love, the 
" better we are, and the greater our friend- 
" ships are, the dearer we are to God ; let 
" them be as dear, and let them be as per- 
" feet, and let them be as many as you can ; 
" there is no danger in it ; only where the 
" restraint begins, there begins our imperfec- 
" tion ; it is not ill that you entertain brave 
" friendships and worthy societies ; it were 
" well if you could love, and if you could 
" benefit all mankind ; for I conceive that is 
" the sum of all friendships. x 

" I confess this is not to be expected of 
" us in this world ; but as all our graces here 
" are but imperfect, that is, at the best they 
" are but tendencies to glory, so our friend- 
" ships are imperfect too, and but beginnings 
" of a celestial friendship, by which we shall 
" love every one as much as they can be loved. 
" But then so we must here in our propor- 
" tion ; and indeed that is it that can make 
" the difference ; we must be friends to all : 
" that is, apt to do good, loving them really, 
" and doing to them all the benefits which we 



a68 



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46 can, and which they are capable of. The 
44 friendship is equal to all the world, and 
44 of itself hath no difference ; but is differ- 
" enced only by accidents and by the capa- 
44 city or incapacity of them that receive it : 
44 nature and religion are the bands of friend- 
44 ships \ excellency and usefulness are its 
" great endearments : society and neighbour- 
44 hood, that is, the possibilities and the cir- 
44 cumstances of converse are the determin- 
44 ations and actualities of it. Now when 
44 men either are unnatural, or irreligious, 
" they will not be friends ; when they are 
" neither excellent nor useful, they are not 
44 worthy to be friends ; where they are 
44 strangers or unknown, they cannot be 
44 friends actually and practically ; but yet, 
44 as any man hath any thing of the good, 
44 contrary to those evils, so he can have and 
44 must have his share of friendship. For 
44 thus the sun is the eye of the world ; and 
44 he is indifferent to the negro, or the cold 
44 Russian, to them that dwell under the 
44 line, and them that stand near the tropics, 
44 the scalded Indian, or the poor boy that 
44 shakes at the foot of the Riphean hills ; but 
44 the flexures of the heaven and the earth, 
44 the convenience of abode, and the ap- 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



269 



" proaches to the north or south respectively 
" change the emanation of his beams ; not 
" that they do not pass always from him, but 
" that they are not equally received below, 
" but by periods and changes, by little inlets 
" and reflections, they receive what they can ; 
M and some have only a dark day and a long 
" night from him, snows and white cattle, a 
" miserable life, and a perpetual harvest of 
" catarrhs and consumptions, apoplexies and 
" dead palsies ; but some have splendid fires, 
" and aromatick spices, rich wines, and well- 
" digested fruits, great wit and great cou- 
" rage ; because they dwell in his eye, and 
" look in his face, and are the courtiers of 
" the sun, and wait upon him in his chambers 
" of the east ; just so is it in friendships : 
*« some are worthy, and some are necessary ^ 
" some dwell hard by, and are fitted for con- 
** verse ; nature joins some to us, and re- 
#< ligion combines us with others ; society and 
" accidents, parity of fortune, and equal dis- 
" positions do actuate our friendships : which 
" of themselves, and in their prime disposition, 
<fe are prepared for all mankind according as 
" any one can receive them. We see this 
" best exemplified by two instances and ex- 
" pressions of friendship and charity : viz, 



%jO THE LIFE OF 

" alms and prayer ; every one that needs re- 
** lief is equally the object of our charity ; but 
" though to all mankind in equal needs we 
" ought to be alike in charity ; yet we sig- 
" nify this severally and by limits, and dis- 
" tinct measures : the poor man that is near 
" me, he whom I meet, he whom I love, he 
" whom I fancy, he who did me benefit, he 
« who relates to my family, he rather than 
" another, because my expressions being 
" finite and narrow, and cannot extend to all 
" in equal significations, must be appropriate 
" to those whose circumstances best fit me ; 
" and yet even to all I give my alms : to all 
" the world that needs them ; I pray for all 
*« mankind, I am grieved at every sad story I 
*« hear ; I am troubled when I hear of a pretty 
" bride murdered in her bride-chamber by an 
" ambitious and enraged rival ; I shed a tear 
u when I am told that a brave king was mis- 
*« understood* then slandered, then impri- 
" soned, and then put to death by evil men : 
" and I can never read the story of the Pa= 
" risian massacre, or the Sicilian vespers, but 
" my blood curdles, and I am disordered by 
*< two or three affections. A good man is a 
" friend to all the world ; and he is not truly 
» charitable that does not wish well, and do 



JEREMY TAYLOR* 



" good to all mankind in what he can ; but 
" though we must pray for all men, yet we 
" say special litanies for brave kings and holy 
" prelates, and the wise guides of souls ; for 
" our brethren and relations, our wives and 
" children. The effect of this consideration 
" is, that the universal friendship of which I 
" speak, must be limited, because we are 
" so.' 5 y 

Having shewn how friendship is consistent 
with the Gospel ; he proceeds to point out 
how it can be appropriate, that is, who are to 
be chosen for it, how far it may extend, and 
how conducted. And having considered 
these, as he himself anticipated, " with great 
" utility and pleasantness, "he concludes, with 
a postscript : from which it appears that this 
treatise was not written with the view of 
publication ; but rather for the perusal of his 
friends ; amongst whom was Dr. Wedder- 
burne, his Physician. " If you shall think 

* Zv^oXov H9ixo-7roX?jixixov, p. 642, &c. The Discourse on 
Friendship, and the two Letters to Persons newly changed 
in their Religion, were republished in Nov. 1660, with the 
initials J.T. D.D. the same as were attached to the Disc, 
on Artificial Beauty, which, being done in the life-time 
of the author, adds something to substantiate the report 
of his being the writer of the latter treatise, 

5 



272 



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" fit that these papers pass further than your 
" own eye and closet, I desire they may be 
" consigned into the hands of my worthy 
" friend Dr. Wedderburne : for I do not only 
" expose all my sickness to his cure, but I 
" submit my weaknesses to his censure, being 
* as confident to find of him charity tor what 
" is pardonable, as remedy for what is curable: 
" but indeed madam, I look upon that 
" worthy man as an idea of friendship, and if 
" I had no other notices of friendship or con- 
" versation to instruct me than his, it were 
" sufficient : for whatsoever I can say of 
" friendship, I can say of his, and as all that 
" know him reckon him amongst the best 
" physicians, so I know him worthy to be 
M reckoned amongst the best friends." 

u The Two Letters 2 to Persons changed in 
" their Religion the one " to a Gentle- 
" woman newly seduced to the church of 

8 The third edition of the YvpfioXov H0*xo -xoXtixiKov, which 
was published in the year 1 674, seven years after Taylor's 
death, varies from that which has been described. The 
Golden Grove and Sermon on the Anniversary of Gunpow- 
der Treason are omitted, and the following works inserted 
in their room. " The Dissuasive from Popery, in two 
" parts." " The Unum Necessarium." " A Discourse of 
" Confirmation." " Three Letters to a Gentleman that 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 273 

** Rome," the other "to a person newly con- 
** verted to the church of England," appear 
to have been written after he had retired into 
Ireland ; an event that must have taken place 
before the close of the year 1657. 

During Taylor's residence in London he 
became acquainted with Lord Conway, a 
Nobleman of an open and generous disposi- 
tion, who had been active in the service of 
the late king, and was probably one of those 
royalists who formed Taylor's congregation. 

Informed of his late affliction, and con- 
scious of the hazard he incurred by officiating 

** was tempted to the communion of the Church of Rome." 
And " The answer to the Bishop of Rochester's first 
** Letter, the Bishop of Rochester's second Letter, and 
«' Taylor's reply to it." In this edition the title was alter- 
ed to " Zv^oXov OeoXoyiw, or a collection of Polemical 
<i Discourses, wherein the Church of England, in its 
f< worst as well as more flourishing condition, is defended 
" in many material points, against the attempts of the Pa- 
" pists on the one hand, and the Fanatics on the other. 
" Together with some additional pieces, addressed to the 
u promotion of practical religion and daily devotion. By 
" Jer. Taylor, Chaplain in ordinary to King Charles the 
4i First, and late Lord Bishop of Down and Connor. 

" The third edition. London, printed by R. Norton 
« for R. Royston, 1674." 

T 



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so near the seat of the ruling opinions, he 
made him a friendly proposal, the exact 
nature of which is not recorded : but of such 
a kind as induced Taylor and his family to go 
over into Ireland and reside at Portmore \ the 
mansion of that nobleman, in the parish of 
Ballinderry, and county of Antrim, at the 
distance of nine miles from Lisburn. This 
situation, being adapted to study and contem- 
plation, was to him a delightful retreat. Here 
he employed his time in arranging the trea- 
sures with which his mind was stored, and in 
correspondence with men of literature. 

In the year 1659, the Ephesian Matron was 
published in London, in duodecimo. The story 
is told by Petronius, and introduced into "the 
" Rule and Exercises of Holy Dying." And 
the publication now mentioned w T as probably 
a mere extract of that part of the latter work 
made by the bookseller ; a practice very usual 
in the time of Taylor. All that is requisite to 
be observed respecting it is, that caution 

a The magnificent stables in the deer park at Portmore 
were built by Taylor's friend, Lord Conway. The estate 
1 is now the property of his descendant the Marquis of 
Hertford, 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



275 



should be given not to mistake it for the 
story 5 usually published with the Cimmerian 
Matron 5 a story written with the freedom of 
the age of Charles the Second, by a Layman j 
as appears from the epistle prefixed to the 
Cimmerian Matron in which the writer refers 
to the use Taylor has made of it in the trea* 
tise already described. 

Of the same date is a Latin letter addressed 
by Taylor, to John Stearne, professor of 
physic and philosophy in the university of 
Dublin, which is prefixed to the professor's 
®*v<xTo\oytct> and is dated from his " delightful 
" recess at Portmore." There also he accom- 
plished the largest and most laborious of his 
works, the " Ductor Dubitantium, or the Rule 
" of Conscience in all her general measures ; 
" serving as a great instrument for the deter- 
" ruination of cases of Conscience." To this 
great undertaking he alludes in the following 
abstract from a letter to Dr. Sheldon, who had 
given his advice on the subject. 

" I am to thank you for the prudent and 

b Entitled " The Ephesian and Cimmerian Matrons, 
•< two notable examples of the Power of Love and Wit. 
« In the Savoy, 1668." 

T 2 



276 



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" friendly advice you were pleased to give 
" me in your letter, relating to my great un~ 
" dertaking in cases of conscience. I have 
" only finished the first part yet, the Prascog- 
" nita and the generals ; but in that and the 
" remaining parts I will strictly observe your 
25 caution ??\ 

To tjhis letter there is no date. The remain- 
ing part of it mentions the discharge of a 
bond, which Taylor had given to the Doctor ; 
and contains expressions of gratitude and at- 
tachment to him for constantly assisting his 
condition and promoting his interest. 

Though some writers abroad had engaged 
in this subject, and some at home ; yet so 
many strange opinions had been broached, and 
false solutions given, that a work of this kind 
was a desideratum in divinity. It had long 
occupied the mind of Taylor ; and he had 
now all the advantages of an uninterrupted 
and agreeable retirement to bring the work to 
completion 5 which he effected, as he himself 
expresses it, 6 6 in his study in Portmore in 
Kilultagh, October the 5th, in the year 1659 : 



* MSS. donat.4162, art. 19. 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



lrat the publication of it was delayed till the 
year following d . It is dedicated to King 
Charles the Second ; who was restored before 
the work came out, 

In the preface he states, that hot many of 
the reformed religion were found who were 
qualified or had leisure to write books of 
cases of conscience. 4 6 Some of the Lutherans 
44 had indeed done something in this kind, 
44 which was well ; Baldwin, Bidenbach, 
44 Dedekan, Konig, and the Abbreviator of 
44 Gerard : some essays also had been made 
44 by others ; Aisted, Ames, Perkins, and Hall 
44 the eloquent and reverend Bishop of Nor- 
44 wich." But yet there was great need of 
further labours in this department of theology. 
44 We could not be well supplied out of the 
44 Roman store-houses : for though there the 
44 staple was, and many excellent things were 
44 there exposed to view ; yet the merchants 
44 were found to be deceivers, and the wares 
44 too often falsified." This he shews by 
many instances which he draws into view; 
and exposes the many defects that existed in 

d It was published in June 1660, see Kennet's Reg, 
p. 193, in Lond. 



T 3 



578 



THE LIFE OF 



moral theology, by subtle but false disputa- 
tion. " Beata (etas qua? in vita hominum re- 
" genda totam disputandi rationem posuit" 
Blessed are the times in which men learn to 
dispute well that they may live the better. 
And truly it were much to be wished that 
men would do so now ; endeavouring to teach 
the ways of Godliness in sincerity, to shew 
to men the right paths of salvation ; to 
describe the right and plain measures of sim- 
plicity, clmstian charity, chastity, temperance, 
and justice ; to unwind the intanglements of 
art, and to strip moral theology of all its 
visors; to detract all the falshoods and hypo- 
crisies of crafty men ; to confute all the false 
principles of evil teachers, who by uncertain 
and deceitful grounds teach men to walk con- 
fidently upon trap- doors and pit-falls, and 
preach doctrines so dangerous and false, 
that if their disciples would live according to 
"the consequents of such doctrines, without 
doubt they must perish everlastingly. 

Taylor was conscious it was a great work 
which he undertook, and too heavy for one 
man's shoulders ; but (he argued) somebody 
must begin ; and yet no man ever would, if 
he were to be frighted with the consideration 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



279 



of any difficulty. He laid aside all consider- 
ation of himself, and with an entire confidence 
in God for help, he began this institution of 
moral theology, and established it upon such 
principles and instruments of probation as 
every man allows, and better than which we 
have none imparted to us. He affirms nothing 
but upon grounds of scripture, or universal 
tradition, or right reason discernable by every 
disinterested person, where the questions are of 
great concern, and can admit of these proba- 
tions : where they cannot, he takes the next 
in value ; the laws of wise commonwealths 
and the sayings of wise men, the results of 
fame and the proverbs of the ancients, the 
precedents of holy persons and the great 
examples of saints. 

He laid down for himself general measures 
to be as boundaries to the determination of 
doubts and the answer of questions ; and by 
observing these, his error, if any happened, 
must be very innocent. For in hard and in- 
tricate questions he takes that which is plain 
and intelligible, and concerning which it 
would be easy to judge whether it be right or 
wrong. In odious things and matters of bur- 
den and envy, he adopts that paxt which is 

T 4 



THE LIFE OF 



least, unless there were evident reason to the 
contrary. In favours he always chooses the 
largest sense, when any one is bettered by it, 
and no man is the worse. In things and 
questions relating to men, he gives those 
answers that take away scruples, and bring 
peace and a quiet mind. In points relating 
to God he is careful to speak that which is 
most honourable to the divine Being. In 
matters of duty he always chooses that which 
is most holy. In doubts he adopts what is 
safest. In probabilities he prefers that which 
is the more reasonable, never allowing to any 
one a leave of choosing that which is con- 
fessedly the less reasonable in the whole con- 
junction of circumstances and relative consi- 
derations. 

On account of these principles he hoped to 
serve God and mankind. For these being 
the points of his compass, which way soever 
he sailed, he could not suffer shipwreck : 
and if at any time he goes about, which he 
has avoided as much as he could, yet at last 
he arrives where he ought to be. For indeed, 
in this whole affair, he has proceeded with 
great fear ; as knowing that he who writes of 
cases of conscience, in some measure gives. 
10 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



„Jaws to all that believe him : and no man 
persuades more vehemently than he that tells 
you, " This, God forbids ; this God com- 
mands and therefore, he knew that to be 
mistaken in such a subject were very fatal, 
and might do much mischief ; but to be care- 
less or prejudiced, or partial, or flattering, 
or oppressive with severity, or unsafe with 
gentleness, were criminal in the cause as well 
as mischievous in the event : and the greatest 
security which he had that he had not spoken 
unsafely in any man's case was, because he 
had prayed much, and laboured much that he 
might not at all minister to error or schism, 
to folly or vanity, but to the glory of God 
and the good of souls : and he had so deter- 
mined every case that he had in this work 
presented, as he himself would practise, and 
as he would account at the day of judgment ; 
and therefore he desires his reader to use the 
same caution and ingenuity before he con- 
demns any conclusion, and consider, that as 
in these things it was impossible to please 

every man, h ^syotKo^ 7rci$iv aSffiv y*\vKW ; c 

so he designed to please no man but as he is 
a lover of truth and of his own soul. 

Plutarch in Solone, p. 202. Edit. Br. 



2SZ 



THE LIFE OF 



The style that he here uses is unequal ; 
the materials which he collects are sometimes 
new, and at other times old ; they are diffi- 
cult and they are easy ; in some passages 
adorned with cases, and the cases specificated 
in historical passages, and in others instead 
of these he recites an apologue, and disguises 
a true narrative with other names, that he 
may not discover the person of whose case he 
is speaking : and in all things he minds the 
matter ; and supposes truth alone and reason, 
and the piety of the decision, to be the best 
ornament ; and indeed sometimes the thing 
itself will not be handled otherwise. 

Ornari res ipsa negat, contenta doceri. f 

He was here to speak to the understanding, 
not to win the affections ; to convince, not to 
exhort: and where he had no certainty in 
the case, or that the parts of a question were 
too violently contended for, without sufficient 
evidence on either side, he was not very for- 
ward to give his final sentence ; but his opi- 
nion and his reason ; 

Per verbura forte respondent saepe periti. 

And yet he hoped that in some cases it 
f Manilius, iii. 39. 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 283 

would be found that though he was not se- 
vere, positive, and decretory, yet the case 
itself was sufficiently declared, so that he who 
has occasion to use it, might on those ac- 
counts determine himself. 

He has studiously avoided all questions that 
are curious and unprofitable; such as are 
only trials of wit, but neither ministers of 
justice nor religion. 

The things of God are plain and easy : and 
therefore he has rejected every thing that" is 
not useful and intelligible j choosing only to 
make such enquiries by which we may be- 
come better, and promoted in something of 
our duty ; 

Quid suraus, et quidnam victuri gignimur, ordo 
Quis datus, aut metse qua mollis flexus, et undse, 
Quis modus argento, quid fas optare, quid asper 
Utile nummus habet, patriae, charisq' propinquis 
Quantum elargiri deceat, quern te Deus esse 
Jussit, et humana qua parte locatus es in re. g 

namely, that we may be taught how to know 
what God requires of us, instructed to salva- 
tion, and fitted to every good work. 

s Perseus iii. v. 67. 

Learn what ye are, and for what ends design'd, — 
Bound to what order, by what rules confin'd : 



284 



THE LIFE OF 



But he desires that he who reads this book, 
will not expect in it a collective body of par- 
ticular cases of conscience ; for he found that 
they were infinite, and his life was not so 
and he should never live to write, or to under- 
stand them all : and if he should write some 
and omit others ; he should profit he knew not 
whom, and do good but to a very few, and 
that by chance only ; and it might be that 
their cases being changed by circumstances 
would not be fitted by his indefinite answers. 

He here offers to the world a general in- 
strument of moral theology, by the rules and 
measures of which, the guides of souls may 
determine the particulars that shall be brought 
before them ; and those who love to inquire, 
may also find their duty so described, that 
unless their duties be complicated with laws, 



Reflect how nice a task it is to steer 
Your course around the goal in life's career: 
How far t' indulge your wishes ; what to prize ; 
In the stamp'd coin what real virtue lies ; 
And what (since to himself no mortal lives) 
We owe our country and our relatives: 
How all are station'd by the heav'nly Pow'rs, 
And what peculiar post is destin'd yours. 

See Howes's transl. of Perseus, 
Sat. iii. 1. 115. 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



and civil customs, and secular interests, men 
that are wise may guide themselves in all 
their proportions of conscience : but if their 
case be indeed involved, they need the con- 
duct of a spiritual guide to solve the difficulty, 
and state the question, and apply the re- 
spective rules to the several parts of it ; for 
though he has set them down all in their pro- 
per places relating to their several matters, 
yet when a question requires the reason of 
many rules, it is not every hand that can 
apply them : men will for ever need a living 
guide ; and a wise leader of souls will by some 
of these rules be enabled to answer most cases 
that shall occur. 

For though he has not given answers to 
every doubt ; yet he has told what we are to 
do when any doubt arises ; he has conducted 
the scrupulous conscience by such rules as 
in all difficulties will declare her duty: and 
therefore if the matter of doubt be in the 
reception of the sacrament of the Eucharist, 
or in wearing clothes, or in eating, the rule 
is the same and applicable to every matter. 
He has not disputed whether h sumptuary 

h " Sumptuary laws are iaws made to restrain excess 
in apparel and prohibit expensive clothes/' see Cowel's 
Interpreter. 

M 



286 



THE LIFE OF 



laws be actually obligatory to us in England 
and Ireland ; but he has told by what mea- 
sures we shall know concerning all laws, whe- 
ther they be obligatory or not, in any place, 
and to every person. He has not expounded 
all the laws of God, but he has told by what 
rules they are to be expounded and under- 
stood. And because their rules have in- 
fluence upon all particulars, he has by way of 
instance and illustration determined many 
special cases : and he has been careful to 
choose such as are the matter of our usual 
inquiries ; and has been very studious to draw 
into particular scrutiny most of the principal 
and noblest questions of Christendom which 
could relate to the matter of his rule ; pro- 
vided that they were practical and could mi- 
nister to good manners ; having that passage 
of Lactantius in his mind, " Non tarn de rebus 
" humanis bene meretur qui scientiam bene di- 
" cendi qffert, quam qui pie et innocenter do- 
" cet vivere" 

Such is the account given by Taylor him- 
self of this extensive and important work, 
which is alone sufficient to place his name 
amongst the most learned divines and most 
profound philosophers. It is evident from 
other parts of his writings, that he had long 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



287 



been impressed with the utility of such a work, 

and had doubtless been many years in collect- 
ing materials \ which at length he was enabled 
to reduce into order and bring before the 
world. 

The " Ductor Dubitantium" is the produc- 
tion of retentive memory and laborious re- 
search, of learning various and profound, of 
reasoning close and dispassionate. It is the 
effort of a vigorous, an unbiassed, and con- 
templative mind ; a mind <s furnished with a 
" holy rule and guided by a divine con- 
- ductor." 1 

JfVfcjf} icrtwQ •)■■'! <r 5 r.'i* < }%nxo'& '$m ^fi .box) mmt 

* The Ductor Dubitantium was abridged and published 
in the year 1725, under this title, " The Rule of Con- 
" science; or, Bishop Taylor's Ductor Dubitantium 
" abridged. By Richard Barcroft, Curate of Christ 
" Church in Surrey, in two volumes. London: printed for 
" S. Billingsley, at the Judge's Head in Chancery Lane, 
" 1725, 8vo." It is dedicated by Mr. Barcroft to the 
Right Honourable General William Stewart, of whom he 
says, that he had contributed largely towards building a 
church, intended to found a seminary for poor children, 
and was a benefactor of All Soul's College. 

The Preface, which is short, was written by Richard 
Fiddes the biographer of Wolsey; and states the abridg- 
ment to have been made at his request, because he thought 
the original work wanted its exuberances pruning ; there 
being too many instances occurring in it of common 
place human learning. Fiddes adds, that not having seen 



288 



THE LIFE OF 



the abridgement before it went to the press, he does not 
know how it is executed. 

In the beginning of the second volume is a list of sub- 
scribers and a preface by Barcroft, wherein he states, 
i st. That he has preserved all the rules of the Ductor Du* 
bitantium, in the same order, and almost in the same 
words in which the Bishop has proposed them. 2dly That 
where any one case under a rule appeared sufficient to 
explain Taylor's meaning, he generally omitted the other 
cases; and for the same reason, he also commonly omitted 
his embellishments of learning and numerous quotations 
from other writers, wherever they appeared unnecessary 
to prove or explain the rule which he designed to establish. 

In the year 1684 appeared a collection of Bp. Taylor's 
smaller pieces, under the title of " Taylor's Opuscula," 
containing the Treatise on Friendship, Five Letters to 
persons changed or tempted to a change in their religion, 
and a Discourse, proving that the Christian Religion is 
from God. The last is extracted from the Ductor Dubi- 
tantium, p. 1 24, first edit. 



JEREMY TAYLOR* 



289 



CHAP. IX, 



from 1660 to 1663. 
HE tide of public affairs was now on 



the return. The latter years of Crom- 
well, like those of other usurpers, were marked 
by fresh instances of tyranny. Those persons 
who . were strictly attached to the Common- 
wealth considered him a traitor to the people $ 
and, had they possessed the power, were in- 
clined to bring him to punishment. 

All parties in religion looked forward to his 
end as the moment of advantage to their se- 
veral causes j for he kept them all in sub- 
jection : and the powers of Europe antici- 
pated the event with sentiments of equal 
warmth. So that his death, which took place 
on the 3d of September, in the year 1658, 
was received, both at home and abroad, as 
the signal of common deliverance/ 




a See Kennet's Collections. 



V 



ago THE LIFE OF 

Meanwhile the legal heir to the crown of 
Great Britain was not unmindful of any turn 
of affairs that was favourable to his cause ; 
and had assembled an army in Flanders, in 
readiness to be brought over to co-operate 
with his friends in England, 

After the death of Cromwell the state ap- 
peared in all its wretchedness. His successor 
in the government was wholly unfit to rule. 
Religion was prostituted to the lowest and 
most wicked purposes. The parliament was 
divided, and was in consequence dissolved ; 
and the army dictated and prescribed a com- 
monwealth. 

Amidst this distraction of the government 
the loyalists rose in Cheshire, and the people 
were alarmed by the return of civil war. But 
these exertions in favour of Charles were 
checked, and the parliamentary proceedings 
interrupted, A military council took the 
whole concerns of government into its own 
hands, and declared to the people its intent 
tion of making " a thorough reformation of 
«' the law, and to settle a due liberty amongst 
* them." To put a stop to a measure so 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



29I 



vague and ineffectual, Monk, at that time 
General in Scotland, interposed his influence, 
and by his wisdom and firmness gained the 
ascendancy. The king, availing himself of 
the favourable prospect now opening upon 
him, commenced a correspondence with that 
distinguished person, which at length effected 
the restoration of monarchy and order on the 
1 st of May in the year 1 660, and the return 
of the king to London on the 29th of the 
same month, 

After such a cloud of darkness and storm 
of discord, what language can describe the 
renovating light of liberty and peace, which 
now broke in upon that more pure and re- 
formed part of the Christian church, that was 
established in this kingdom at the reforma- 
tion; and which, under the protectorate, had 
been driven into obscurity and put to silence ; 
rhough she embraced within her pale learnings 
piety, and firmness equal to any church on 
earth. 

Amongst the first of her ministers Taylor 
quitted his retirement at Portmore, and came 
over to co-operate with the measures of the 
Loyalists. He was in London early in the 



1<) 2 THE LIFE OF 

spring of the year. This appears from the 
following declaration which he subscribed ; 
and which manifests the temper and modera- 
tion of that party. 

1660. - — Tuesday, April 24th. A Declara- 
tion of the Nobility and Gentry that adhered 
to the late king in and about the City of 
London. 

ff After the miseries of a civil war and the 
" many and fruitful attempts towards settle- 
" ment upon several interests and imaginary 
u forms of government, it having pleased 
*' Almighty God, by unexpected and wonder- 
M ful means to give these nations a probable 
" hope of being restored to those laws and 
m privileges, which have been transmitted to 
" them from their ancestors ; we do declare, 
" that we think ourselves obliged, next to 
" divine Providence, to attribute this gracious 
u work to his Excellency the Lord General 
" Monk, who as he had the courage to assert 
" the publick liberty, and the prudence to 
" carry it on against so many difficulties, has 
" also had the happiness to lead us thus far 
" through the wildness of confusion, without 
" passing the Red Sea of blood ; and because 

3 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



^93 



" the enemies of the publick peace have en« 
" deavoured to represent those of the king's 
" party, as men implacable, and such as would 
" sacrifice the common good to their own 
" private passions, we do sincerely profess, 
" that we do reflect upon our past sufferings 
" from the hands of God, and therefore do 
" not cherish any violent thoughts or in- 
" clinations, to have been any way instru- 
" mental in them. And if the indiscretion 
" of any spirited persons, transport them to 
" expressions contrary to this our sense, we 
" utterly disclaim them. And desire, that 
" the imputation may extend no further, than 
" the folly of the offenders. And we further 
" declare, that we intend, by our quiet and 
«* peaceable behaviour, to testify our sub* 
u mission to the present power, as it now re- 
" sides in the Council of State, in expectation 
" of the future parliament, upon whose wis- 
" dom and determinations, we trust, God will 
" give such a blessing, as may produce a per- 
" feet settlement both in church and state. 

" And as his Excellency hath not chosen 
" the sandy foundations of self-government, 
" but the firm rock of national interest, 
14 whereon to frame a settlement ; it is our 

u 3 



THE LIFE OF 



hope and prayer, that when the building 
comes to be raised, it may not, like Rome y 
have the beginning in the blood of brethren^ 
nor like Babel, be interrupted by the con- 
fusion of tongues : but that we may all 
speak the same language, and be of one 
name ; that all mention of parties and fac- 
tions, and all rancour and animosities may 
be thrown in, and buried like rubbish under 
the foundation." b 



b Subscribed by 



The Marquis of Dorchester 
The Earls of Northampton 
Devonshire 
Berkshire 
Dover 

Peterborough 
Norwich 
Cork 
Carberry 
Desmond 
The Viscounts Ogle 

Grandison 
Lumley 
Brunker 
The Lord Bellasis 

Loughborough 
Lexinton 
Brereton 
Lucas 
The Bishop of Kerry 
Sir William Compton 
Francis Vane 
Thomas Restwich, Bart. 
Orlando Bridgman 
Edward Pye 
Lewis Kirk 



Sir Thomas Smith 

Robert Stapletou 

William Coney 

Nicholas Crispe 

Hugh Cartwright 

Sutton Coney 

Henry Chichley 

William Morton 

Edward Savage 

Thomas Armstrong 

John Stephens 

Humphrey Bennet 

William Howard 

Henry Wroth 

William Dacres 

Robert Malevory 

Gervase Clifton, Knight 
and Bart. 

William Thorold, Bart. 

Thomas Corbet, Bart. 

Thomas Littleton, BarU 

Arthur George 

Anthony Jackson 

Robert Butler 
George Morley, D.D. 
Thomas Warms-ley, D.D. 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



295 



The king, amongst the many he had to 
reward, did not forget his father's Chaplains, 
who had remained unshaken amidst the jar* 
ring principles of the time, and now came 
forward to join in the congratulations which 
were offered to the restored sovereign with, 
unexampled joy. The see of Canterbury, 
vacant since the execution of Laud, was filled 
by Juxon, translated from the see of London, 
and Sheldon promoted to his place ; and 
Taylor, on the removal of Bishop Lesly to the 
see of Meath, was preferred to that of Down 
and Connor. 

But though the prospect of promotion and 
honor was now full in his view, he was not 
distracted from the prime object of his life ; 
the advancement of true and vital Christianity ; 



Philip King, D.D. 
Jeremiah Taylor, D.D, 
Thomas Howard, Esq, 
John Russel 
"William Ashburnham 
Edward Villars 
Edward Penruddock 
William Legge 
Thomas Lower 



Herbert Price 
Thomas Panton 
Robert Ruthen 
Colonel FretswelS 
John Jeffries 
Adrian Scroop 
William Burg 
John Maynard 
Edward Roscaracke, 



See Kennet's Reg. aruL Chron. p. 120. 

U4 



1 $6 THE LIFE OF 

and in the autumn of the same year, during 
the time he was in England, and whilst he 
was only Bishop elect of Down and c Connor, 
he published " the Worthy Communicant : or 
" a Discourse of the Nature, Effects, and 
*' Blessings consequent to the worthy receiving 
" of the Lord's Supper ; and of all the Duties 
" required in order to a worthy Preparation: 
" Together with the Cases of Conscience oc- 
" curring in the duty of him that ministers, 
" and of him that communicates, d " This he 
addressed to Mary, Princess of Great Britain, 
Dowager of Orange, who was now in England 
in order to congratulate her brother on his 
happy Restoration, and who died in the De- 
cember following. She was the eldest daugh- 
ter of king Charles the First, and widow of 
William of Nassau, only son of Frederick 
Henry Prince of Orange, and was the mother 
of King William the Third. 

The beneficent protection which this amiable 
princess afforded to many of those who fled 

c Dr. Taylor was the thirty-ninth Bishop of Down, the 
fortieth Bishop of Connor, and the sixteenth Bishop after 
the union of these sees. SeeWare's Catal. of Irish Prelates. 

d It was published in August i66o 3 see Kennet's Reg. 
p. 245, in Lond. 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



from their country during the Civil War, and 
her obedience to the strictest rules of religion, 
was Taylor's inducement for offering this 
work to her notice. The dedication is written 
under those strong impressions which a 
Loyalist, who had felt the oppression of the 
times may be supposed to receive upon the 
return of order and peace. These urged 
him to a strain of compliment that but ill 
accorded with the real character of Charles ; 
who is introduced into the Dedication as the 
brother of her, to whose virtues he is offering 
the present manual. 

The style of this work is as elevated as any 
of the Bishop's writings. The mind is not 
only instructed by it, but raised, and the 
spirit warmed and purified. As a specimen 
of the truth of this assertion, amongst many 
others, the following passage may be selected. 
H That we may know where to find our Lord, 
" w r e must be sure to look after him ; he hath 
" told us where he would be, behind what 
" pillar, and under what cloud, and covered 
" with what veil, and conveyed by what mi- 
" nistry, and present in what sacrament ; and 
" we must not look for him in the highways 
M of ambition and pride, of wealth or sensual 



298 



THE LIFE OF 



" pleasures ; these things are not found in 
" the house of his father, neither may they 
" come near his dwelling. But if we seek 
«« Christ, we shall find him in the methods of 
" virtue, and the paths of God's command- 
" ments ; in the houses of prayer, and the 
" offices of religion ; in the persons of the 
" poor, and the retirements of an afflicted 
" soul : we shall find him in holy reading and 
" pious meditation, in our penitential sor- 
" rows, and in the time of trouble, in pulpit s, 
" and upon altars, in the word, and in the 
" sacraments : if we come hither as we ought, 
" we are sure * to find our Beloved/ him 
" whom our soul longeth after. 

" Sure enough Christ is here, but he is not 
i( here in every manner, and therefore is not 
" to be found by every inquirer, nor touched 
" by every hand, nor received by all comers, 
" nor entertained by every guest. He that 
*' means to take the air, must not use his 
" fingers, but his mouth ; and he that re- 
" ceives Christ, must have a proper, that is, 
" a spiritual instrument, a purified heart, 
" consecrated lips, and a hallowed mouth, 
** a tongue that speaks no evil, and a hand 
*« that ministers to no injustice, and to no un- 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



299 



cleanness : for a disproportionate instrument 
" is an indecency, and makes the effect im* 
" possible both in nature and morality. Can 
" a man bind a thought with chains, or carry 
" imaginations in the palm of his hand ? Can 
" the beauty of the peacock's train, or the 
" ostrich plume, be delicious to the palate 
" and the throat ? Does the hand intermeddle 
" with the joys of the heart ? or darkness that 
" hides the naked, make him warm ? Does 
" the body live, as does the spirit ? or can the 
" body of Christ be like to common food ? 
m Indeed the sun shines upon the good and 
s< bad ; and the vines give wine to the drunk- 
" ard, as well as to the sober man : pirates 
" have fair winds, and a calm sea, at the same 
" time when the just and peaceful merchant 
" man hath them. But although the things 
** of this world are common to good and bad, 
" yet sacraments and spiritual joys, the food 
f 6 of the soul, and the blessings of Christ, are 
" the peculiar right of saints ; and the rites 
" of our religion are to be handled by the 
" measures of religion, and the things of God 
" by the rules of the spirit ; and the sacra* 
" ments are mysteries, and to be handled by 
" mystic persons, and to be received by saints ; 
" and therefore whoever will partake of God's 



300 THE LIFE OF 

" secrets, must first look into his own ; he must 
" pare off whatsoever is amiss, and not with- 
" out holiness approach to the holiest of all 
" holies, not eat of this sacrifice with a defiled 
u head, nor come to this feast without a nup- 
" tial garment, nor take this remedy without 
" a just preparative. For though in the first 
" motions of our spiritual life, Christ comes 
" alone and offers his grace, and enlivens us 
" by his spirit, and makes us begin to live, 
" because he is good, not because we are, 
" yet this great mysterious feast, and maga- 
" zine of grace and glorious mercies, is for 
" those only who are worthy ; for such only 
" who by their co-operation with the grace of 
" God, are fellow-workers with God in the 
" laboratories of salvation. 

" The wrestler that Clemens of Alexandria 
" tells us of, addressing himself to his con- 
M tention, and espying the statue of Jupiter 
" Pisaeus, prayed aloud : ' If all things, O 
" Jupiter, are rightly prepared on my part ; 
i if I have done all that I could do, then do 
" me justice, and give me the victory.' And 
" this is a breviate of our case. c He that 
" runneth in races/ saith the Apostle, he 
" that contends for the mastery, ' is tempe- 



JEREMY TAYLOE. 



301 



" rate in all things and this at least must he 
" be that comes to mid Christ in these myste- 
" ries ; he must be prepared by the rules and 
" method of the sanctuary : there is very 
" much to be done on his part, there is an 
" heap of duties, there is a state of excel- 
" lency, there are preparations solemn and 
" less solemn, ordinary and extraordinary, 
" which must be premised before we can re- 
" ceive the mysterious blessings, which are 
" here not only consigned, but collated and 
" promoted, confirmed, and perfected. 

" The holy Communion, or Supper of the 
" Lord, is the most sacred, mysterious, and 
" useful conjugation of secret and holy things 
" and duties in the Christian religion. It is 
" not easy to be understood, it is not lightly 
" to be received : it is not much opened in 
" the writings of the New Testament, but 
" still left in its mysterious nature : it is too 
" much untwisted and nicely handled by the 
" writings of the Doctors, and by them made 
" more mysterious ; and like a doctrine of 
" philosophy made intricate by explications, 
" and difficult by the aperture and dissolu- 
" tion of distinctions. So we sometimes espy 
" a bright cloud formed into an irregular 



302 



THE LIFE OF 



*' figure ; which, it is observed by unskilful 
*« and fantastic travellers, looks like a centaur 
" to some, and as a castle to others : some 
" tell that they saw an army with banners, 
ff and it signifies war ; but another wiser than 
si his fellows, says, it looks for all the world 
" like a flock of sheep, and foretels plenty ; 
" and all the while it is nothing but a shining 
*J cloud, by its own mobility and the activity 
" of a wind cast into a contingent and inar- 
" tificial shape : so it is in this great mystery 
" of our religion, in which some espy strange 
*? things which God intended not, and others 
«« see not what God hath plainly told." * 

Such is the language in which he intro- 
duces this subject ; and he pursues it with a 
clearness of method and depth of learning, 
a richness of expression and warmth of piety, 
by few writers surpassed. Though he has en- 
deavoured to set the mystery of the Sacrament 
in as clear a light as he was able ; yet he has 
lapsed into some illustrations, which are un- 
necessary and offensive. They comprehend 
tales of the religious, which may possibly be 
untrue; and which, if authentic, prove 



* Worthy Communicant, p. 3,. 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



nothing to his purpose* But although these 
are no addition to the force of his reasonings 
they are no detraction from it ; and may with 
propriety be placed to the taste of the age in 
which he lived, and to the examples of this 
kind which were presented to his view in the 
writings of the Fathers. The mind is seldom 
detained by sentences of this description : 
they are as the cloud passing rapidly before 
the sun. In the next passage it is relieved 
from dissatisfaction, and the subject returns 
upon it with that combination of energy and 
sweetness, which the writer so eminently pos- 
sessed. This is well exemplified in the suc- 
ceeding section ; where reducing his observ- 
ations to practice, he says, M Let no man be 
" less confident in his holy faith and persua* 
" sion concerning the greatest blessings and 
6< glorious effects which God designs to every 
«< faithful and obedient soul in the communis 
" cation of these divine mysteries, by reason 
" of any difference of judgment which is in 
" the several schools of Christians concerning 
" the effects and consequent blessings of this 
« sacrament. For all men speak honourable 
" things of it, except wicked persons, and 
" the scorners of religion : and though of 
** several persons like the beholders of a dove 



304 THE LIFE OP 

" walking in the sun, as they stand in several 
" aspects and distances, some see red, and 
" others purple, and yet some perceive nothing 
" but green, but all allow and love the beau- 
u ties : so do the several forms of Christians, 
" according as they are instructed by their 
u first teachers, or their own experience con- 
" ducted by their fancy and proper principles, 
" look upon these glorious mysteries, some as 
" virtually containing the reward of obedience, 
" some as solemnities of thanksgiving and 
" records of blessings, some as the objective 
c< increases of faith, others as the sacramental 
" participations of Christ, others as the acts 
" and instruments of natural union ; yet all 
" affirm some great things or other of it, and 
" by their differences confess the immensity 
g and the glory.' ' f 

He then pursues the subject through the 
several branches of examination, faith, cha- 
rity, and repentance; resolving, in his pro- 
gress, many casuistical questions of primary 
importance to all Christians and particularly 
to those who minister in holy things. And 
he employs the remaining chapters upon the 



* Worthy Communicant, p. 64. 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



preparation requisite for the holy Sacrament, 
and the " Comportment of the Communicant 
" in and after his reception of it." 

In the same volume with this treatise is 
printed a Sermon preached by Taylor, at the 
funeral of Sir George Dalstone g , ofDalstone 
in Cumberland, September 28th, 1657, which 
ranks amongst his most admired compositions* 
It appears from the character here given, that 
Sir George was a person of exemplary life, 
and that, after serving in parliament for 
almost forty years, in which he was not 
without distinction, in his latter years, re- 
signing his estate to his son, he spent the 
remainder of his life in privacy, and the ex- 
ercise of religion. 

" In the day of felling timber, the shrub 
" and the bramble are better than the tallest 
44 fir, or the goodliest cedar ; and the poor 
" saint, whose soul is in the hand of Jesus, 
" placed under the altar, over which our high 
«« priest, like the cherubim over the propitia- 
" tory, intercedes perpetually for the hastening 
" of his glory ; is better than the greatest 



g Sir George was not interred at Dalstone. 



THE LIFE OF 



" tyrant, who if he dies, is undone for ever," 
" There will to every one of us come a time, 
" when we shall, with great passion, and great 
" interest, inquire how have I spent my days, 
" how have I laid out my money, how have I 
" employed my time, how have I served God, 
" and how repented me of my sins ? And, 
" upon our answer to these questions depends 
" an happy or an unhappy eternity : and bles- 
" sed is he who concerning these things takes 
" care in time ; and of this care I may, with 
" much confidence and comfort, propound to 
" you the example of this good man, whose 
" relics lie before you : a worthy man, be- 
" loved of his country, useful to his friends, 
" friendly to all men, careful of his religion, 
" and a true servant of God." h 

Such was the character whose lot it was to 
be drawn by the hand of this great master, 
and seldom can there be found one more ably 
finished or deserving of imitation K The 

h P. 424, 426. " Worthy Communicant." The character 
which Taylor draws of Sir George Dalston is admirable. 

1 In the same year with the publication of the Worthy 
Communicant, Bishop Leslie brought out his Discourse of 
Praying with the Spirit and the Understanding, to which 
he prefixed a Letter of Taylor's upon the same subject, 
printed in London in quarto. 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 307 

" Worthy Communicant" was his last work 
previous to his consecration. 

The church of Ireland had not been less 
subject to oppression than that of England. 
The people inflamed by the most calamitous 
of mental maladies, religious enthusiasm ; and 
led on by hypocritical rulers, under the ap- 
pearance of sanctity, had driven the chief of 
the clergy from their sees. And whilst usurpa- 
tion was dictating oppression from the pol- 
luted throne, hypocrisy and schism were vo- 
ciferating blasphemy from the ruins of the 
church. 

In this interval, whilst religion had retired 
to the desart, many of the prelates died : so 
that upon the restoration, the king found 
three Archbishoprics, and eleven Bishoprics, 
vacant in Ireland. Dr. Bramhall, the Bishop 
of Derry, was immediately chosen successor 
to Usher in the primacy ; and letters patent 
were issued for the appointment of bishops to 
the other vacant sees. Dr. Margetson, Dean 
of St. Patrick's, was advanced to the Arch- 
bishopric of Dublin, and Dr. Pullen to that 
of Tuam. The Bishopric of Cork was con- 
£ 2 



308 THE LIFE OF 

ferred upon Dr. Boyle, Dean of Cloyne; 
Elphin, upon Dr. Parker ; Limerick upon 
the Dean of Elphin, Dr. Synge ; and Leighlin 
and Ferns upon Dr. Price, Dean of Connor ; 
Waterford was placed in the hands of Dr. 
Baker. Dr. Wild was consecrated to Derry ; 
Dr. Lesley to Dromore, Dr. Worth, Dean of 
Cork, to Killaloe, Killala was conferred upon 
Dr. Hall, and Dr. Taylor was elected to Down 
and Connor, made void by the promotion of 
Dr. Lesly to the see of Meath. fc 

As soon as these arrangements were com- 
pleted, the royal mandate was sent to the pri- 
mate to proceed to consecration ; and on the 
27th of January, in the year 1 660-1, with 

the assistance of the Bishops of 1 Raphoe, 

fyttsA gnii sffo t noktoo;fem sih noqo tedf 

k The Bishopric of Kildare, one of the number, conti- 
nued vacant a few- months longer, when Thomas Price, 
B. D. was preferred to it, and consecrated March 10th 
1 660-1. 

1 John Leslie, born in 157 1, Bishop of the Isles in Scot- 
land, translated to Raphoe, June 1st 1633, built the cas- 
tle of Raphoe, and was conspicuous for his loyally to' King 
Charles the First. He was again translated to C.logher, 
in June, 1 661, where he died, aged an hundred years, 
having been at once Bishop and Privy Counsellor in Scot- 
land and Ireland. 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 309 

Kilmore m , and Ossory n , the Archbishop 
consecrated the whole number of elected 
bishops in the Cathedral of St. Patrick. 

The Archbishop, desirous that so unusual 
an event might be observed with a solemnity 
answerable to the occasion, issued these di- 
rections, for the better regulation of the ce- 
remony. 

" Whereas we have thought fit to appoint 
" the 27th of this instant, January, for 
" the consecration of bishops, to the end 
" therefore, that the same may be so ordered 
" as decently as the dignity of so holy an 
" office shall require : we have thought fit by 
" the advice of our brethren, the bishops who 
" are to assist in that sacred administration, 
" and with whom we have consulted in that 



m Robert Maxwell consecrated March 24th 1643, died 
Saturday 1 6th of November 1672. 

n Griffith Williams, a firm loyalist, was at the battle 
of Edgehill, as chaplain to Charles the First, having 
been advanced to the Bishopric of Ossory, 19th of June 
1 641. He died the 29th of March 1672, in the eighty- 
fourth year of his age. 

John Bramhall, consecrated Bishop of Derry May 
26th, 1634, translated to Armagh the 18th of January 
1660-1, and died June 25th 1663, aged 70. 

x 3 



310 THE LIFE OF 

" behalf to order, that the office of consecra- 
" tion ended, the anthem to that purpose, 
" composed by the Dean of St. Patrick's, 
" called * Quum denuo exaltavit Dominus 
** coronam,' be sung, as it here followeth." 

Treble Now that the Lord hath re-advanc'd the crown. 
Which thirst of spoil and frantic zeal threw down; 

Tenor Now that the Lord the mitre hath restor'd, 

Which with the crown lay in the dust abhorr'd. 

Chorus Praise him ye Kings. 

Praise him ye Priests. 

Treble May Judah's Royal Sceptre still shine clear. 

Tenor May Aaron's holy rod still blossoms bear. 

Treble Sceptre and Rod rule still and guide our land, 
and And those whom God anoints feel no rude hand ! 
Tenor May love, peace, plenty, wait on crown and chair, 

And may both share in blessings as in care. 
Chorus Angels look down and joy to see 

Like that above a monarchy. 

Angels look down and joy to see 

Like that above an hierarchy. 

On this occasion the office of preacher was 
imposed on " the pious, eloquent, and learned 
" Dr. Taylor." He chose his subject from the 
twelfth chapter of St. Luke, and forty-third 
verse. The sermon which he then delivered 
was published 5 *, by the command of the 

p Published in London for R.Jtoyston, 1661, 4-to. See 
" The proceedings observed in order to, and in the con- 

6 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 311 



Lords Justices, and the Primate, and is pre- 
served in the fifth edition of the Emmtos. 

In this able discourse he first concisely 
takes the same view that he had done on a 
former occasion, in his "Episcopacy asserted," 
concerning the pastoral office itself; and then 
proceeds to the duties of it, and its high re- 
sponsibility : which he enforces with all the 
weight that reason and scripture can give, or 
strength of language can convey. 

This solemn and extraordinary ceremony 
was attended by the lords justices and coun- 
cil, and general convention, with the mayor 
and aldermen, in their robes ; and was 
performed with such grave and religious pro- 
priety, as left a deep impression upon the 
minds of the distinguished congregation then 
assembled. 

Thus having, like the apostles at Jerusalem, 
received power from on high, immediately 



" secration of the twelve Bishops, at St. Patrick's church 
" in Dublin, the 27th of January 1660. By Dudley 
" Loftus, LL.D. London 1661, 4*0," See Athen. Oxon. 
vol.2, coll. 929. edit. 1 72 1. 

x 4 



312 



THE LIFE OF 



before their dispersion to the several flocks, 
over which the Holy Ghost had made them 
overseers, Bishop Synge, a person worthy of 
their number and his office, delivered in 
Christ Church, in the presence of the go- 
vernment and them, an able discourse on 
those words of St. Paul contained in the 
beginning of the third chapter of the Second 
Epistle to the Thessalonians ; which of them- 
selves had the effect of a sermon, striking the 
minds, and raising the devotion of all who 
were present. 6 6 Finally, brethren, pray for 
" us, that the word of the Lord may have free 
" course, and be glorified, even as it is with 
" you ; and that we may be delivered from 
" unreasonable and wicked men, for all men 
" have not faith." And soon after this each 
departed to his charge : Taylor having pre- 
viously been sworn one of the Privy Council. q 

Whilst Taylor was thus raised to the Mitre 
in Ireland, his beneficent patron, the Earl of 
Carbery was constituted Lord President of 
Wales, and removed to Ludlow castle, the 
seat of that government. Upon his appoint- 
ment to that office, he made Butler his secre- 

* See Bishop Vesey's Life of Bramhall, and Kennet's 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



taiy and steward of the castle. Before the 
rebellion this was the residence of the Earl of 
Bridgewater, and had been the scene of 
" Milton's Comus." — It was now fallen into 
the hands of a nobleman of equal worth, and 
fostered a muse of equal vivacity. r 

His other noble friend, Lord Hatton, was 
received at Court with every mark of attach- 
ment, and having been sworn a member of the 
privy council, was appointed to the govern- 
ment of Guernsey. 

In the March after Bishop Taylor's conse- 
cration he lost his only remaining son, Edward, 
who was buried in the church at Lisburn on 
the i oth of that month s . And about the same 
time, he w T as chosen Vice-chancellor of the 

r High as the burlesque may seem in Butler's incompa- 
rable poem, it is but a transcript of the mode of reasoning 
which prevailed at that time amongst the independent 
party ; whose hypocrisy and blasphemy cannot be con- 
templated by any religious mind without indignation and 
horror. At the same time a more striking lesson cannot 
be produced against the indulgence of the wild opinions 
which led to such results. And no argument can carry 
with it such powerful conviction of their inevitable and 
fatal consequences, as a reference to the plain history of 
those enthusiastic and rebellious times. 

■ See the Parish Register, 



THE LIFE OF 



University of Dublin ; an office which he held 
till his death. On his being elected to this 
situation, he 1 addressed that learned body in 
a Latin speech, remarkable for its eloquence. 
But this instance of his ability does not seem 
to have been printed. 

The change that had taken place in the 
affairs of Ireland was well received by the 
people of Dublin, and every thing conducted 
in such a manner as to shew respect to the 
government. 

The 8 th of May in the year 1661, was fixed 
upon for the opening of parliament. And 
" the Lords Justices, which were, Sir Maurice 
" Eustace, Lord Chancellor, Charles Earl of 
" Montrath, and the Earl of Orrery, and the 
" Two Houses having assembled, rode in 
" great state to the Cathedral of St. Patrick. 
" Before the Lords Justices were borne the 
" Royal Robe, by the Earl of Kildare; the 
" Cap of Maintenance, by the Viscount 
" Montgomery ; and the Sword, by the Lord 
m Baltinglas. The people were not a little 
" rejoiced to see themselves now fully repre- 

e Alluded to in a Letter from the Rev. Ralph Nicholson 
to the Rev. Ed. Jones, Sep. 17, 1792. 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



** sented by so many worthy patriots, legally 
" called together by his Majesty's writ : but 
" that which made this proceeding most ac- 
" complished, (says the writer of this account) 
" was to behold the Most Reverend Arch- 
" bishops and Bishops, by whose pious and 
" prudent management the church hath re- 
" covered much of her ancient reverence ; 
" several of her grand opposers being per- 
w suaded to a high respect for her. Being 
" come to St. Patrick's, they heard an excel- 
" lent sermon preached by the Right Reverend 
" Jeremy, Lord Bishop of Down and Connor, 
" after which the peers went to the Lord's 
*• House, and the Commons to theirs. The 
" latter nominated Sir Audley Marvin their 
" Speaker, and the Peers the Archbishop of 
" Armagh." u 

On this occasion Taylor chose his subject 
from the fifteenth chapter of the First book 
of Samuel, and the twenty-second and follow- 
ing verse; and endeavoured to prove that 
obedience is the best medium of peace and 
true religion ; and that laws are' the common 
term and certain measures of it. This ser- 

u See Kennet's Reg. and Chron. quoting " Public In- 
" telligence," 4*0. No. 19. 



316 THE LIFE OF 

mon v is the most finished of his compositions ; 
and for liberality, vigour, and eloquence 
can scarcely find its parallel* 

He is addressing the Lords Justices, the 
Lords spiritual and temporal, and the Com- 
mons ; and he applies his subject to the peo- 
ple and their rulers ; referring particularly to 
those who had been most guilty of a breach 
of his doctrine in the late unhappy time. And, 
adverting to those persons who had to execute 
the law, he concludes in these exquisite and 
impressive passages. 

" God hath put a royal mantle, and fast- 
" ened it with a golden clasp, upon the shoul- 
" der of the king, and he hath given you the 
" judges' robe ; the king holds the sceptre, 
" and he hath now permitted you to touch 
" the golden ball, and to take it awhile into 
" your handling, and make obedience to your 
" laws to be duty and religion : but then re- 
" member that the first in every kind is to be 
" the measure of the rest ; you cannot rea- 
" sonably expect that the subjects should obey 
" you, unless you obey God. I do not speak 



Lond. 4-to. 1 66 1. 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 317 

this only, in relation to your personal duty ; 
" though in that also it would be considered, 
* f that all the bishops and ministers of religion 
" are bound to teach the same doctrines by 
" their lives as they do by their sermons ; and 
" what we are to do in the matters of doc- 
" trine, you are also to do in the matter of 
" laws j what is reasonable for the advantages 
" " of religion, is also the best method for the 
" advantages of government ; we must preach 
" by our good example, and you must govern 
" by it j and your good example in observing 
" the laws of religion will strangely endear 
i( them to the affections of the people/' 

" Lastly, all the creatures both of heaven 
" and earth would perish if mercy did not re- 
" lieve us all. . Other good things more or 
" less, every man expects according to the 
" portion of his fortune : Eoc dementia omnes 
" idem sperant* but from mercy and clemency 
" all the world alike do expect advantages. 
" And which of us all stands here this day, 
" that does not need God's pardon and the 
" king's ? Surely no man is so much pleased 
*t with his own innocence, as that he will be 



" Seneca, 



THE LIFE OF 



" willing to quit his claim to mercy : and if 
" we all need it, let us all shew it. 

Naturae imperio gemimus, cum funus adultae 
Virginis occurrit, vel terra clauditur infans, 
Et minor igne rogi. x 

" If you do but see a maiden carried to her 
" grave a little before her intended marriage, 
" or an infant die before the birth of reason, 
" nature hath taught us to pay a tributary 
" tear : alas ! your eyes will behold the ruin 
" of many families, which though they sadly 
" have deserved, yet mercy is not delighted 
" with the spectacle ; and therefore God 
" places a watery cloud in the eye, that when 
" the light of heaven shines upon it, it may 
" produce a rainbow to be a sacrament and a 
" memorial that God and the sons of God do 
u not love to see a man perish. God never 
" rejoices in the death of him that dies ; and 
" we also esteem it indecent to have musick 
" at a funeral. And as religion teaches us 
" to pity a condemned criminal, so mercy in- 
" ter cedes for the most benign interpretation 
" of the laws. You must indeed be as just as 
<c the laws, and you must be as merciful as 
" your religion : and you have no way to tie 

x Juvenal xv. 138. 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 319 

these together, but to follow the pattern in 
" the Mount ; do as God does, who in judg- 
M ment remembers mercy." y 

To give still further weight to the Protestant 
establishment, both Houses made a declara- 
tion, dated 2 the 17th of the same month, 
of the high estimation in which they held 
episcopal government and the Book of Com- 
mon Prayer, according to the use of the 
church of England. 

Soon after this the Bishop preached before 
the Primate at the metropolitan visitation of 
the diocese of Down. He had shewn in his 
discourse before the parliament, " that obe- 
" dience is the best medium of peace and 
" true religion ; and laws are the only common 
" term and certain rule and measure of it. 
" Vocata ad concionem multitudine 9 qua? co- 
" alescere in populum unius corporis nulla re 
" prceterquam legibus poterat, 9 said Livy a . 
" Obedience to man is the external instru- 

y As***? Efx^oXi^oao; a supplement to the Eviavzog , p. 71. 
z Kennet's Regist. 449. 

a Vocata ad concionem multitudine, quae coalescere in 
populi unius corpus nulla re praeterquam legibus poterat, 
Liv. lib. i. c. 7. 



3 2o 



THE LIFE OF 



" ment, and the best in the world." To 
which he now added, " that obedience to 
" God is the best internal instrument." 

This subject he repeated before the univer- 
sity of Dublin in June in the following year, 
and the Discourse was published b in quarto. 
It is inserted in the fifth edition of the 
EviMTos under the title of Via Intelligentia, 
and is little inferior to that last described. 
One passage in it cannot be too much re- 
garded. " There is in every righteous man 
" a new vital principle ; the spirit of God is 
" the spirit of wisdom, and teaches us by 
" secret inspirations, by proper arguments, 
" by actual persuasions, by personal applica- 
f tions, by effects and energies ; and as the 
" soul of a man is the cause of all his vital 
" operations, so is the spirit of God the life 
" of that life, and the cause of all actions 
« and productions spiritual : and the conse- 
" quence of this is what St. John tells us of, 
" ' Ye have received the unction from above, 
" and that anointing teacheth you all things 
" all things of some one kind \ that is, cer- 
" tainly, 6 all things that pertain to life and 



b London, for R. Royston, 4I0. 1662. 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



321 



** godliness ; all that by which a man is wise 
" and happy.' We see this by common ex- 
44 perience. Unless the soul have a new life 
" put into it, unless there be a vital principle 
" within, unless the Spirit of Life be the 
44 informer of the spirit of man, the word of 
" God will be as dead in the operation as the 
i4 body in its powers and possibilities. Which 
" principle divers fanaticks, both among us, 
" and in the church of Rome, misunderstand- 
" ing, look for new revelations, and expect 
44 to be conducted by extacy, and will not 
" pray but in a transfiguration, and live upon 
14 raptures and extravagant expectations, and 
* c separate themselves from the conversation 
" of men by affectations, by new measures 
" and singularities, and destroy order, and 
" despise government, and live upon illiterate 
" phantasms and ignorant discourses. These 
44 men 4 belie the Holy Ghost :' for the spirit 
4 4 of God makes men wise ; it is an evil spirit 
44 that makes them fools. The spirit of God 
44 makes us 4 wise unto salvation :' it does not 
44 spend its holy influences in disguises and 
44 convulsions of the understanding : God's 
44 spirit does not destroy reason, but heightens 
" it ; He never disorders the beauties of go- 
** vcmment, but is a God of order ; it is the 

Y 



322 THE LIFE OF 

" spirit of humility, and teaches no pride ; 
w He is to be found in churches and pulpits, 
" upon altars, and in the Doctor's chair ; not 
" in conventicles and mutinous corners of a 
" house : He goes in company with His own 
" ordinances, and makes progressions by the 
" measures of life ; His infusions are just as 
" our acquisitions, and His graces pursue the 
" methods of nature : that which was imper- 
" feet He leads on to perfection, and that 
" which was weak He makes strong: He opens 
" the heart, not to receive murmurs, or to 
" attend to secret whispers, but to hear the 
" word of God ; and then He opens the heart, 
" and creates a new one ; and without this 
" new creation, this new principle of life, we 
" may hear the word of God, but we can 
" never understand it ; we hear the sound, 
"but are never the better ; unless there be in 
*' our hearts a secret conviction by the spirit 
" of God, the gospel itself is a dead letter, 
" and worketh not in us the light and righ- 
" teousness of God." c 

Upon the translation of Dr. Robert Lesley 
to the see of Raphoe, the king, by grant of 



e &UM6S E(Af3c7ni;x:o- ) p, 84, 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



the 2 1 st of June, of the year 1661, com* 
mitted to the Bishop of Down and Connor, 
the administration of the see of Dromore ; 
which he held till his death. 

He thus received a fresh tribute of respect 
for his fidelity and superior attainments. But 
it was no desire of enriching himself that in- 
duced the Bishop to accept of this new 
charge. The dilapidated state of the church 
and ecclesiastical property at this juncture 
clearly evince his conduct to have been 
grounded upon a higher principle. 

Finding not only the spiritual affairs of this 
diocese in disorder, but the choir of the ca- 
thedral of Dromore in ruins, he undertook to 
rebuild it. It was dedicated to *« Christ our 
" Redeemer." On this occasion his daughter 
Joanna presented the plate for the commu- 
nion 5 which bears the following inscription. 

In ministerium S S mysteriorum 
In Ecclesia Christi Redemptoris 
De Dromore 
Deo dedit humillima Domini 
Ancilla D. Joanna Taylor. 

In the same year he held a visitation at 
Lisnegarvy - 9 at which he issued " rules and 
y 2 



324 THE LIFE OF 

" advices to the clergy of his diocese for their 
" deportment in their personal and publick 
i 4 capacities." 

Thus was he attentive not only to the out- 
ward condition of the church, but assiduously 
exerting himself both by his own eminent 
example and admirable writings to regulate 
the charge reposed in him. The rules he 
directed to his clergy for this purpose form a 
very useful compendium of ministerial duty, 
and have been often recommended by sub- 
sequent prelates. In visiting his diocese, it 
was his practice to preach to the congregation, 
and the substance of two sermons on the 
second chapter of the Epistle to Titus, and 
seventh and eighth verses, which he delivered 
in so many several visitations, is preserved in 
the fifth edition of the E/» under the 
title of " the whole Duty of the Clergy in Life, 
" Belief, and Doctrine, described and ef- 
u fectually pressed upon their Consciences." 
The former work is but an abridgement of 
the precepts contained in this, which are in 
general enforced with all the learning, piety, 
and earnestness, which he so amply possessed, 
and which the subject so justly demanded. 
But in his warmth of persuasion to holiness 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



325 



some positions occur, which the church con- 
siders untenable, particularly those in the first 
part, concerning the effect of personal sins 
upon the validity of the sacred functions of 
Christian ministers : on which subject he pur- 
sues a line of argument that militates against 
the tenets of the twenty-sixth article of the 
church of England. 

In the autumn of the year 1661 the bishop, 
foreseeing a vacancy in the deanery of Connor ? 
wrote to Cambridge for some able person, 
who might fill that dignity. And the propo- 
sition being made to Dr. George Rust, at that 
time a fellow" of Christ College in that uni- 
versity, he gladly accepted it : the situation 
being more valuable, in his estimation^ by the 
intercourse that it would give him with the 
" incomparable person, with whom the offer 
" had originated." Dr. Rust hastened his 
journey into Ireland, and arrived in Dublin 
about the month of August. 

The bishop, who knew how to value a per- 
son of his worth, received him " with much 
" respect and kindness and he was preferred 
to the Deanery, as soon as it was vacant, 
which was shortly after. 

y 3 



326 



THE LIFE OF 



Thus a friendship commenced between 
these two great men, which continued with 
mutual warmth and admiration, till it was 
interrupted by death. 

Gratifying as this friendly intercourse d evi- 
dently was to Dr. Rust, c it must have been 
equally pleasing to the bishop ; for the dean 
was, in every respect worthy of his regard. 
Joseph Glanvil, who knew him well, describes 
him as " a man of a clear mind, a deep judg- 
" ment, and searching wit : greatly learned in 
" all the best sorts of knowledge, ancient and 
" modern, a thoughtful and diligent enquirer, 
" of a free understanding, and vast capacity, 
" joined with singular modesty, and unusual 
" sweetness of temper, which made him the 
" darling of all that knew him : he was a 
" person of great piety and generosity ; a 
" hearty lover of God and man ; an excel- 

d See Rust's Sermon at Taylor's Funeral. 

c Rust was first of St. Catherine's Hall in Cambridge, 
and was a member of that Society, when he took his de- 
gree of Bachelor of Arts: which was in the year 1646. 
But he had removed to Christ's before he commenced 
Master; as appears from the register of the University, 
copied by Baker in his MSS. notes to Wood's Athen. 
Oxon. in which George Rust is entered H Art. Mr. Coll. 
" Chr. 1650." 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 327 

" lent preacher, a wise governor, a profound 
" philosopher, a quick, forcible, and close rea- 
" soner, and above all, a true and exemplary 
" Christian. In short, he was one who had 
" all the qualifications of a primitive bishop, 
u and of an extraordinary man." 

This, Mr. Glanvil said not out of kindness 
to his friend, but out of justice to a person of 
whom no commendation could be extrava- 
gant. Whilst Dr. Rust lived in Christ's Col- 
lege, he was highly esteemed for his eminent 
learning and virtues ; he was one of the first 
that surmounted the prejudices of the system 
that was adopted in education during the 
unhappy times in which he resided in the 
university. He had too great a soul for the 
trifles of that age, and saw early the nakedness 
of phrases and fancies. He outgrew the pre- 
tended orthodoxy of those days, and addicted 
himself to the primitive learning and theology, 
in which he even then became a great master. 

In the latter end of the year 1 662, or beginning 
of the year following, Taylor published three 
sermons, which he had preached at Christ's 
church, in Dublin. The subject of the first 
is, " The Righteousness Evangelical describ- 

y 4 



328 



THE LIFE OF 



ed the second shews, " The Christian's 
" Conquest over the body of Sin ;" and the 
third developes "Fides formata, or Faith work- 
«l ing by Love." These he dedicated to the 
Duchess of Ormond, who had been one of the 
congregation at the time the first was de- 
livered, and had requested him to distribute it 
in print. She was the daughter of Richard 
Lord Dingwell and Earl of Desmond in Ire- 
land ; and is described as a lady of zeal, piety, 
and charity. She was at that time resident at 
Dublin in consequence of the appointment of 
the Duke her husband to the vice-regal go- 
vernment, on the 4th of October, in the year 
1 66 1 : an appointment that was received with 
great joy. Kennet f records that his Grace 
" landed at Houth on Sunday the 27th of 
" July of that year, with the Earls of Ossory 
" and Anglesea, and a noble retinue the 
House of Lords expressing their joy for his 
arrival, by the Lord Primate their Speaker ; 
the Commons, by their Speaker, Sir Audley 
Marvin; the Lower House of Convocation, 
by Dr. Mossom, their Prolocutor; the Uni- 
versity by their Vice-chancellor, the Bishop 
of Down and Connor ; and the Mayor and 



f Regr. p. 733. 



JEREMY TAYLOR* 



3*9 



City, by their Recorder, who in testimony of 
their affection, presented his Grace with a 
bowl of gold, of the value of four hundred 
pounds, and the freedom of their city in a 
golden box. 

About this time the bishop sent into the 
world his X9 l(ri s TgAstwri^, A discourse of 
confirmation ; to which he prefixed an epistle 
dedicatory to this nobleman, and thus repre- 
sents the state of religion in Ireland at that 
time. " Our churches are demolished, much 
" of the revenues irrecoverably swallowed by 
" sacrilege, and digested by an unavoidable 
" impunity ; religion is infinitely divided, and 
" parted into formidable sects ; the people 
** are extremely ignorant, and wilful by in- 
" heritance ; sup erst itiously irreligious and 
" incapable of reproof." 

The discourse itself is divided into seven 
sections, with an introduction. The first sec- 
tion treats of the divine original, warranty^ 
and institution of the rite of confirmation. 
In the next he contends that this rite is a 
perpetual ministry. The third shews that 
imposition of hands for the giving of the Holy 
Spirit, or Confirmation, was actually continued 



THE LIFE OF 



and practised by all the succeeding ages of 
the purest and primitive church. Next, he 
contends that the bishops were always, and 
the only ministers of Confirmation ; and that 
the whole procedure or ritual of Confirmation 
is by prayer and imposition of hands. That 
many graces and blessings are consequent to 
the worthy reception and due ministry of this 
rite ; and lastly, he treats of the necessary 
preparation and circumstances of receiving it. 

The style of this treatise is closer and less 
florid than many of his other writings ; but 
the same command of learning is every where 
conspicuous. He brings out of his inexhausti- 
ble treasury " things new and old, 5 ' and ap- 
plies them with irresistible persuasion. Drawn 
by his hand the cause of youth arrests our 
attention and demands our care. Who can 
read the following passage without the most 
lively interest ? 

" The use that I make of this notion is 
" principally, to be an exhortation to all of 
•I the clergy, that they take great care to cate- 
" chise all their people, to bring up children 
" in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, 
*f to prepare a holy seed for the service of 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 33 1 

u God, to cultivate the young plants and to 
" dress the old ones, to take care that those 
" who are men, in the world be not mere babes 
" and uninstructed in Christ, and that they 
" who are children in age may be wise unto 
* c salvation : for by this means we shall 
" rescue them from early temptations, when 
" being so prepared they are so assisted 
"by a divine ministry ; we shall weaken 
" the devil's power, by which he too 
" often and too much prevails upon unin- 
" structed and unconfirmed youth. For 
" /xygov ty\s peGctlaxng 6fxo\oytct$ Confirmation is the 
" firmament of our profession ; but we pro- 
" fess nothing till we be catechized. Ca- 
" techizings are our best preachings, and by 
" them we shall give the best accounts of our 
" charges, while in the behalf of Christ we 
" make disciples, and take prepossession of 
" infant-understandings, and by this holy rite, 
" by prayer and imposition of hands, we mini- 
" ster the Holy Spirit to them, and so prevent 

6 and disable the artifices of the devil ; for 
" we are not ignorant of his devices, how he 
ft enters as soon as he can, and taking advan- 
" tage of their ignorance and their passion, 
" seats himself so strongly in their hearts and 

" heads. 



33 3 THE LIFE OF 

" ' Turpius ejicitur quam non admittitur 
" hostis. g ' It is harder to cast the devil out 
" than to keep him out. Hence it is that the 
" youth are so corrupted in their manners, so 
" devilish in their natures, so cursed in their 
" conversation, so disobedient to parents, so 
" wholly given to vanity and idleness ; they 
" learn to swear before they can pray, and to 
" lie as soon as they can speak. 

" It is not my sense alone, but was long 
since observed by Gerson and Gulielmus 
" Parisiensis, Propter cessationem confirm- 
" ationis tepiditas grandior est in fidelibus, et 
"fidei defensione h ; there is a coldness and 
" deadness in religion, and it proceeds from 
" the neglect of confirmation rightly minis- 
" tered, and after due preparations and dis- 
" positions. A little thing will fill a child's 
" head : teach them to say their prayers, tell 
" them the stories of the life and death of 
ff Christ, cause them to love the holy Jesus 
" with their first love, make them afraid of 
" sin ; let the principles which God hath 
" planted in their very creation, the natural 

* Turpius ejicitur quum non admittitur hospes. Ovid 
Tristium, lib. 5". el. 6. v. 13. 
h De exterminat. schism. 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



333 



Sl principles of justice and truth, of honesty 
" and thankfulness, of simplicity and obe- 
" dience be brought into act, and habit, and 
" confirmation by the holy sermons of the 
" gospel. If the guides of souls would have 
" their people holy, let them teach holiness 
" to their children, and then they will (at 
" least) have a new generation unto God, 
" better than this wherein we now live. They 
" who afe most zealous in this particular will 
" with most comfort reap the fruit of their 
" labours, and the blessings of their ministry ; 
" and by the numbers which every curate 
" presents to his bishop fitted for confirmation, 
" he will in proportion render an account of 
" his stewardship with some visible felicity." ! 

On the 1 6th of July, in the year 1 663, he was 
requested to perform the solemn office of 
preaching at the funeral of that great prelate 
Dr. John Bramhali, Archbishop of Armagh, 
and primate; from whose hands he had 
received consecration. The duty thus 

* IvjxfioXov ©soXoyixov; of confirmation, p. 31. In the year 
1662 the sermons which Taylor had preached and 
published since the Restoration, " being eleven in num- 
" ber," were printed under the title of " Atxacr E^/Sofyucuo? 
" a supplement to the Evi«uTo?,' ? 



334 



THE LIFE OF 



reposed in him he filled with his accustomed 
ability : choosing first to dwell upon the doc- 
trine of the Resurrection, and afterwards to 
introduce a well drawn character of the dis- 
tinguished person whose obsequies he was 
then performing; whom he represents as 
" a wise prelate, a learned doctor, a just 
<c man, a true friend, a great benefactor to 
" others, a thankful beneficiary where he was 
" obliged himself. That he was a faithful 
" servant to his master, a loyal subject to the 
" king, a zealous asserter of his religion 
" against popery on the one side, and fana- 
" ticism on the other. The practice of his 
" religion was not so much in forms and ex- 
" terior ministeries, though he was a great 
" observer of all the public rites and minis- 
M teries of the church, as it was in doing 
" good for others. He was like k Myson, 
** whom the Scythian Anacharsis so greatly 
M praised, 'O ^vo-cuv ijv hxov ojxqrou xa\w$ 9 he go- 
" verned his family well, he gave to all their 
" due of maintenance and duty ; he did great 
" benefit to mankind ; he had the fate of the 
" apostle St. Paul, he passed through evil 
" report and good report, as a deceiver and 

k See Maximiug Tyrius Diss. 31. Ed, Davisii. Sect. i< 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 335 

'* yet true. He was a man of great business 
" and great resort : Semper aliquis in Cydonis 
« domo, as the Corinthians said, there was al- 
M ways somebody in Cydon's house l . He 
" Was j*6gf£«v tov /3*oy sgycu x«< /3//3A.« m , he di- 
" vided his life into labour and his book ; 
" he took care of his churches when he was 
" alive, and even after his death, having 
" left five hundred pounds for the repair of 
" his cathedral of Armagh, and St. Peter's 
" church in Drogheda : he was an excellent 
" scholar, and rarely well accomplished ; first 
" instructed to great excellency by natural 
" parts, and then consummated by study and 
" experience. Melancthon was used to say, 
M that himself was a logician, Pomeranus a 
" grammarian, Justus Jonas an orator, but 
" that Luther was all these. It was greatly 
" true of him, that the single perfections 
" which make many men eminent, were united 
" in this primate, and made him illustrious. 
" It will be hard to find his equal in all 
" things : for in him was visible the great 
" lines of Hooker's judiciousness, of Jewel's 

1 See Suidas under the Article 'As/ «j it KwXvoj. 

m Synesius says of himself, Ep. 57 .(v%f kou (2t(2x» kcu 
y-i^w tqv /S/ov. Taylor has it ^i^uv tov (3iov sjyw xm @lfi\u 9 
quoting most probably from memory. 



33 6 THE LIFE OF 

" learning, and of the acuteness of Bishop 
" Andrews." n 

But independent of the character here 
drawn of this great prelate, the sermon con- 
tains other passages of admirable beauty and 
commanding force. Speaking of Christ's 
resurrection, he says, " this article was so 
" clearly proved, that presently it came to 
" pass that men were no longer ashamed of 
" the cross, but it was worn upon breasts, 
ft printed in the air, drawn upon foreheads, 
" carried upon banners, put upon crowns 
" imperial; presently it came to pass that 
" the religion of the despised Jesus did in- 
" finitely prevail : a religion that taught men 
" to be meek and humble, apt to receive in- 
" juries, but unapt to do any : a religion that 
" gave countenance to the poor and pitiful, 
" in a time when riches were adored, and 
" ambition and pleasure had possessed the 
" hearts of all mankind ; a religion that would 
" change the face of things, and the hearts 
" of men, and break vile habits into gentle- 
6< ness and counsel ; that such a religion, in 
" such a time, by the sermons and conduct 

■ A«x.«? Ep/ScAijucJo?, p. 113. a Supplement to Em«ut©?. 



JEREMY TAYLOR* 



337 



" of fishermen, men of mean breeding and 
" illiberal arts, should so speedily triumph 
f* over the philosophy of the world, and the 
«' arguments of the subtle, and the sermons 
" of the eloquent ; the power of princes, and 
" the interests of states, the inclinations of 
" nature, and the blindness of zeal, the force 
" of custom, and the solicitation of passions, 
" the pleasures of sin and the busy arts of the 
" devil ; that is, against wit and power, su- 
" perstition and wilfulness, fame and money, 
" nature and empire, which are all the causes 
" in this world that can make a thing im- 
" possible ; this is to be ascribed to the power 
" of God, and is the great demonstration of 
" the resurrection of Jesus." 

" As for the recalling the wicked from their 
" graves, it is no otherwise in the sense of 
" the spirit to be called a resurrection, than 
" taking a criminal from the prison to the 
" bar, is a giving of liberty. When poor 
" Attilius Aviola had been seized on by 
" an apoplexy, his friends supposing him 
" dead carried him to his funeral pile : but, 
fc when the fire began to approach, and the 

* Sermon at the Funeral of the Lord Primate. Supple- 
ment to the EviawTO?, p. ioo. 

z 



I 



33* 



THE LIFE OF 



" heat to warm the body, he revived, and 
" seeing himself incircled with funeral flames, 
" called out aloud to his friends to rescue, 
" not the dead, but the living Aviola from 
" that horrid burning : but it could not be, 
" he only was restored from his sickness to 
" fall into death, and from his dull disease 
" to a sharp and intolerable torment. Just 
" so shall the wicked live again ; they shall 
" receive their souls, that they may be a 
" portion for devils ; they shall receive their 
" bodies that they may feel the everlasting 
" burnings : they shall see Christ, that they 
"may look on him whom they have pierced : 
" and they shall hear the voice of God pass- 
" ing upon them the intolerable sentence ; 
" they shall come from their graves that they 
" may go into hell ; and live again, that they 
" may die for ever. So have we seen a poor 
" condemned criminal, the weight of whose 
"sorrows sitting heavily upon his soul, hath 
" benumbed him into a deep sleep, till he 
" hath forgotten his groans, and laid aside 
" his deep sighings ; but on a sudden comes 
" the messenger of death, and unbinds the 
" poppy garland, scatters the heavy cloud 
" that incircled his miserable head, and makes 
"him return to acts of life, that, he may 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



339 



" quickly descend into death and be no more* 
" So is every sinner that lies down in shame, 
" and makes his grave with the wicked ; he 
" shall indeed rise again, and be called upon 
" by the voice of the archangel ; but then he 
" shall descend into sorrows greater than the 
" reason and the patience of a man, weeping 
" and shrieking louder than the groans of the 
" miserable children in the valley of Hinnom. 
" These indeed are sad stories, but true as 
" the voice of God." p 

p Supplement to EwavToj, p. 102. 



34° THE LIFE OF 



CHAP. X. 

FROM 1663 TO 1667. 

TAYLOR, though occasionally engaged in 
controversy, possessed a mind too intent 
upon the brighter parts of religion, to enter 
voluntarily into disputation. But qualifications 
such as he possessed could not be suffered to 
remain uncalled for when the cause of truth 
and the interests of the church required their 
exertion. Errors, from which the church of 
England had been separated at the reforma- 
tion, still continued to be propagated and em- 
braced in the sister kingdom j and called for 
animadversion: consequently, in the year 1663, 
he published " a dissuasive from Popery," ad- 
dressed " to the people of Ireland." The 
imprimature to the English edition, and 
signed by Dr. George Stradling, chaplain 
to Archbishop Sheldon, is dated the 15 th 
of August of that year. It was printed 
at Dublin, by John Crook, printer to the 
King's Most Excellent Majesty; and re- 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



341 



printed at London for Thomas Johnson, at the 
Key, in St. Paul's Church Yard, in the year 
following. 

The task of writing this work was imposed 
upon him by the bishops of Ireland. And 
" on this account he had nothing left him but 
" obedience ; though, as he himself confesses, 
" he found regret in the nature of the em- 
" ployment ; for he loved not to be one of the 
" disputers of this world." "He looked upon 
" controversy, when the questions are curious 
" and impertinent, intricate, and inexplicable, 
™ not to make men better, but to make a sect, 
" to be the worst sort of learning, and least 
" beneficial to mankind. But when the pro- 
" positions disputed are of the foundation of 
" faith, or lead to good life, or naturally do 
" good to single persons or publick societies, 
" then they are part of the depositor of 
" Christianity, of the analogy of faith ; and 
" for this we are by the apostle commanded to 
" contend earnestly, and therefore controver- 
" sies may become necessary ; but because 
" they are not often so, but oftentimes useless, 
" and always troublesome, and as an ill diet 
" makes an ill habit of body, so does the fre- 
" quent use of controversies baffle the under- 

z 3 



34* 



THE LIFE OF 



" standing, and makes it crafty to deceive 
" others, itself remaining instructed in no- 
" tiling but useless notions and words of con- 
" tingent signification and distinctions with- 
" out difference, which minister to pride and 
" contention, and teach men to be pertina- 
" cious, troublesome, and uncharitable, theie- 
V fore he loved them not. 

" But because by the apostolical rule he 
" was a tied to do all things without murmur- 
" ing, as well as without disputing he recon- 
" sidered it, and found himself relieved by 
" the weight of the subject and great conse- 
" quence of the questions then in agitation. 
" For the questions were such as the church 
" of Home declared to reach as far as eternity, 
" and damn all that are not of their opinions ; 
" and the Protestants had much more reason to 
" fear concerning the Papists, such as were not 
" excused by ignorance, that their condition 
" was very sad and deplorable, and that it was 
" charity to snatch them as a brand from the 
" fire ; indeed the church of Rome maintained 
" propositions, which, if the ancient Doctors 
" of the church may be believed, are apt to 
" separate from God." He instanced in their 

a Phil. 2. 14. 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



343 



superaddition of articles and propositions, 
derived only from a pretended tradition, 
and not contained in scripture. Now the 
doing of this, he declares, is a great sin, 
and a great danger. ' 6 Adoro scripture? pie- 
" nitudinem ; dixit. Si non est scrip turn, 
" timeat vce illud adjicientibus aut detrahentibus 
" destination." b 

But as an additional reason for yielding to 
the solicitation of the bishops, he had ob- 
served amongst the generality of the Irish, 
such a declension of Christianity, so great 
credulity to believe every superstitious story, 
such confidence in vanity, such groundless 
pertinacy, such vicious lives, so little sense 
of true religion and the fear of God, so much 
care to obey the priests and so little to obey 
the Almighty; such intolerable ignorance, 
such fond oaths and manners of swearing, 
thinking themselves more obliged by swear- 
ing on the mass-book, than the four gospels, 
and St. Patrick's mass-book more than any 
new one ; swearing by their father's soul, by 
their godsip's hand, by other things which 
are the product of those many tales that are 

b Tertullian contra Hermogenem, c. 22. 



344 



THE LIFE OF 



told them. They believed as their priest 
bade them, and went to mass which they 
understood not, and reckoned their beads 
to tell the number and the tale of their 
prayers, and abstained from eggs and flesh in 
Lent, and visited St. Patrick's well, and left 
pins and ribbands, yarn or thread, in their 
holy wells, and prayed to God, St. Mary, and 
St. Patrick, St. Columbanus and St. Bridget, 
and desired to be buried with St. Francis's 
chord about them, and to fast on Saturdays 
in honour of our Lady. These and many 
other things of the like nature he saw daily. 

But he gives one particular instance of 
their miserable superstition and blindness. 

He was, within a few months of the time 
at which he published this work, very much 
troubled with petitions and earnest requests, 
for the restoring a bell which a person of quality 
had in his hands in the time of, and ever 
since the (then) late rebellion. He could not 
guess at the reasons of their great and violent 
importunity, but told the petitioners, if they 
could prove that bell to be theirs, the gentle- 
man was willing to pay the full value of it ; 
though he had no obligation to do so (that he 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



345 



knew of) but charity : but this was so far 
from satisfying them, that still the importu- 
nity increased, which made him diligently 
inquire into the secret of it. The first cause 
he found was, that a dying person in the 
parish desired to have it rung before him to 
church, and pretended he could not die in 
peace if it were denied him ; and that the 
keeping of that bell did anciently belong to 
that family from father to son : but because 
this seemed nothing but a fond and unrea- 
sonable superstition, he enquired farther, and 
at last found that they believed this bell came 
from heaven, that it used to be carried from 
place to place, to end controversies by oath, 
which the worst man durst not violate if they 
swore upon that bell, and the best men 
amongst them durst not but believe them ; 
that if this bell was rung before the corpse to 
the grave, it would help him out of purga- 
tory, and that therefore when any one died, 
the friends of the deceased did, whilst the 
bell was in their possession, hire it for the 
behoof of the dead, and that by this means 
that family was in part maintained. Seeing 
under what spirit of delusion those poor souls 
lay, how infinitely their credulity was abused, 
how certainly they believed in trifles, and 



346 THE LIFE OF 

perfectly relied on vanity, and how little they 
regarded the truths of God, and how they 
drank not at all of the waters of salvation, 
gave him much trouble. For the numerous 
companies of priests and friers amongst them, 
took care they should know nothing of re- 
ligion but what they designed for them, they 
used all means to keep them to the use of the 
Irish tongue, lest if they learnt English, they 
might be supplied with persons fitter to in- 
struct them. 

This and many other evils were made 
greater and more irremediable by the anright- 
ment which their priests put upon them by 
the issues of ecclesiastical jurisdiction, by 
which they gave them laws, not only for re- 
ligion, but even for temporal things, and 
turned their proselytes from the mass, if they 
became farmers of the tythes from the mi« 
nister or proprietary without their leave. He 
declares he spoke that which he knew to be 
true by their own confession and uncon- 
strained and uninvited narratives ; so that as 
it was certain that the Roman religion, as it 
stood in distinction and separation from the 
Established church, was a body of strange 
propositions, having but little relish of true 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



347 



primitive and pure Christianity, so it was 
there amongst the Irish a faction and a state 
party and design to recover their old laws and 
barbarous manner of living, a device to enable 
them to dwell alone, and to be populus unius 
labii, a people of one language, and un- 
mingled with others. And if this be religion, 
it is such a one as ought to be reproved by all 
the severities of reason and religion, lest the 
people perish, and their souls be cheaply 
given away to them that make merchandize of 
souls, who were the purchase and price of 
Christ's blood c . Such were the reasons which 
induced the. bishops to take the part they 
adopted, and himself to be engaged in this 
controversy. 

The temper and spirit which pervade the 
" Dissuasive from Popery," are of the kind 
that might be expected from a character of 
the most uniform piety, and one who had his 
subject at command. He expresses himself 
in language adapted to the various ranks in 
society for which the work was intended, and 
produces deep and extensive knowledge of 
the councils, the fathers, and historians of the 
church. 

c Preface to the " Dissuasive." 



348 



THE LIFE OF 



The subject is divided into three chapters, 
and subdivided into sections. In the first 
chapter he shews " that the church of Rome 
" has propositions of its own, which are new 
" and unheard of in the first ages of the 
" Christian church : whereas the religion of 
" the church of England is certainly primi- 
" tive and apostolical." Then he proceeds 
to prove " that the church of Rome, as it 
" was at that day disordered, teaches doc- 
" trines, and uses practices, which are in 
" themselves, or in their true and immediate 
" consequences, direct impieties, and give 
" warranty to a wicked life." And lastly, 
" that the church of Rome teaches doctrines, 
" which in many things are destructive 
«• of Christian society in general ; and of 
" monarchy in particular : both which the 
" church of England and Ireland greatly and 
" christianly supports." 

The work was received with such general 
approbation, that it went through several im- 
pressions d . But the adverse party did not 
suffer it to remain long unnoticed ; and a vo- 
lume in quarto appeared in the year 1665, 



d Ant. Wood. 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



349 



written by Edward Worseley % ajesuit, of the 
family of Worseley, in Lancashire, entitled 
" Truth will out ; or, a Discovery of some 
" Untruths smoothly told by Dr. Jer. Taylor, 
" in his Dissuasive from Popery." Other ani- 
madversions were made upon it, by John 
Sergeant, a secular priest, in one of his ap- 
pendices to " Sure Footing in Christianity.'* 

These only urged him to enter more tho- 
roughly into the subject, and produced " the 
" second part of the Dissuasive from Popery, 
" in vindication of the first part and further 
" Reproof and Conviction of the Roman 
" errors;" published in the year 1667, with an 
introduction: being " an answer to the fourth 
Appendix to J. S. f his Sure Footing; intended 
against the general way of procedure in the 
" Dissuasive from Popery." This did not 
appear publicly till after his death g , being in 

e Edw. Worslaeus, — diu inter Protestantes, doctrina et 
beneficio ecclesiastico eminuit — et pravorum dogmatum 
detecta falsitate, ad ea refutanda animum adjecit — (Je« 
suita e Collegio Leodiensi) vide Florum Anglo-Bavaricum 
Leodii 1685, 4to. p. 53, 54 — vide MSS. Baker, p. 285, 
Athen. Oxon. edit. Univ. Lib. Camb. 

f John Sergeant. 

* Rust's Sermon — another work appeared after Bp. 
Taylor's death entitled " Contemplations of the State of 

5 



35° 



THE LIFE OF 



the press at that time. In the course of the 
work he also answers the observations of 
Edward Worsely. But his main force is 
directed against Sergeant ; whom he attacks 
in the opening of the work in a style of un- 
usual severity. 

" When," he says, " our blessed Saviour 
" was casting out the evil spirit from the poor 
" daemoniack in the gospel, he asked his 
" name ; and he answered, ' My name is 
" ' legion, for we are many.' Legion is a 
" Roman word, and signifies an army, as 
" Roman signifies Catholick ; that is, a great 
" body of men which, though in true speak- 
" ing they are but a part of an imperial army, 

" Man in this life, and in that which is to come," printed 
in Lond. 1684, seven years after his decease. In this 
piece the writer strongly contrasts the existence of man 
during his abode on earth, with his future state; and. by 
drawing the same conclusion with the wisest of men with 
regard to the former, that " all is vanity," powerfully 
fixes the attention upon the substantial value of the latter. 
Prefixed to these " Contemplations" are two advertise- 
ments to the reader — the one by B. Hale, D.D. the other 
by Robert Harris. From these we learn that the contents 
of the volume were put into the hands of a friend by Bp. 
Taylor with the view of publication, had not death pre- 
vented it. The authority of these advertisements, sanc- 
tioned by Anthony Wood, is that on which we rest, when 
we attribute this Treatise to Bp. Taylor. 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



35 1 



M yet when they march alone, they can do 
" mischief enough, and call themselves an 
" army royal. A squadron of this legion hath 
" attempted to break a little fort or outwork 
" of mine, they came in the dark, their names 
" concealed, their qualities unknown, whether 
" clergy or laity not to me discovered, only 
" there is one pert man amongst them, one 
" that is discovered by his " Sure footing." 
" The others I know not, but this man is a 
" man famous in the new science of contro- 
" versy, (as he is pleased to call it,) I mean 
" in the most beauteous and amiable part of 
" it, railing and calumny ; the man I mean is 
" the 'o «y0«%, the confident, the man of 
" principles, and the son of demonstration ; 
" and though he had so reviled a great 
" champion in the armies of the living God, 
" that it was reasonable to think he had cast 

" forth vravToi t« /3eA>] ts tnov^q^ roi '&e7rugoQ[jL£va. > all 

" the fiery darts of the wicked one ; yet I find 
" that an evil fountain is not soon drawn dry, 
" and he hath indignation enough and reviling 
" left for others, amongst whom I have the 
"honour not to be the least sufferer and 
" sharer in the persecution. He thought not 
" fit to take any further notice of me but in 
" an Appendix ; the viper is but little, but it 



35^ 



THE LIFE OF 



" is a viper still, though it hath more tongue 
" than teeth. I am the more willing to quit 
" myself of it, by way of Introduction, be- 
" cause he intends it as an organum Catho- 
" licum against the general way of the proce- 
" dure which 1 have used in the ' ' Dissuasive ;** 
" and therefore I suppose, the removing this, 
" might EToi[xu§av TYjv 6Uv, make my way 
" smoother in the following discourses." h 

Having in the Introduction examined the 
eight objections of his adversary, he enters 
upon the body of the work ; and divides it 
into two books. The first of which contains 
eleven sections, and the second seven. In 
these he treats of the church : shewing that 
the church of Rome relies upon no certain 
foundation for her faith ; that the holy Scrip- 
tures are sufficient to salvation, which is the 
great foundation and ground of the Protestant 
religion: next he considers traditions, that 
there is nothing of necessity to be believed, 
which the apostolical churches did not be- 
lieve ; that the church of Rome pretends 
to a power of introducing into the confessions 
of the church, new articles of faith \ and en- 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



353 



deavours to alter and suppress the old Catho- 
lic doctrine. Then he enters upon the ex- 
purgatory indices in the Roman church, the 
uncharitableness of the church of Rome in 
judging of others ; the insecurity of the 
Roman religion, and that the church of Rome 
teaches for doctrines the commandments of 
men. After this he treats of the seal of con- 
fession ; of imposing auricular confession upon 
consciences, without authority from God ; of 
indulgencies, of purgatory, of transubstanti- 
ation, of half communion, of the Scriptures 
and service in an unknown tongue, of the 
worship of images, of depicting God the 
Father and the holy Trinity, and with this he 
dismisses the subject. 

The latter part of this treatise is addressed 
to general consideration ; the former is more 
immediately directed to the people of that 
kingdom, in which he filled a high and dig- 
nified situation. That he duly estimated the 
sacred trust committed to him, appears in a 
variety of instances ; but on no occasion is it 
more strongly expressed than in the emphatic 
sentence with which he closes the first part of 
this Dissuasive. " Behold we set before you 
" life and death, blessing and cursing, safety 



354 



THE LIFE OF 



" and danger, chuse which you will ; but re- 
" member that the prophets who are among 
" you, have declared to you the way of sal- 
" vation. Now the Lord give you under- 
" standing in all things, and reveal even this 
" also unto you. Amen." 

Having dismissed these subjects, the Bishop 
applied his mind to others more congenial with 
his temper and habits, the consideration and 
practice of piety ; and began " A discourse 
" of the Beatitudes." ' l 

But He who, with such weight of argument 
had defended the cause of truth ; He who 
with unexampled eloquence, had displayed 
to man the grounds of happiness ; He who 
with such moving accents had forewarned the 
world of the incessant inarch of death by the 
uncertainty of life, was now to ratify his word 
by his own example. Thus engaged, whilst 
his mind was intent upon those gracious words 
of his Saviour, " Blessed are the poor in 
" spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven," 
he was summoned to practise his own advice : 
" Say no more, but when God calls, lay aside 



i Bp. Rust's Serm. 



JEREMY TAYLOR, 



355 



" thy papers, and first dress thy soul, and then 
" dress thy hearse/' k 

On the 3d of August 1 in the year 1667, at 
the age of fifty-six, he was attacked by a 
fever ; which, after continuing ten days, put 
a period to his exemplary life, and deprived 
the world of one of the brightest ornaments 
it then possessed. He expired at Lisburn on 
the 13th of the same month : and on the 21st 
his remains were removed to Dromore, and 
deposited in the choir of that cathedral. 

On this sad occasion, (sad to all the lovers 
of religion and learning,) his firm friend and 
warm admirer, Dean Rust, was chosen to 
perform the last solemn office to his deceased 
father m and friend ; and he preached such a 

k See " Holy Dying," c.3. s.8. p. 108. Edit. Lond. 
1680. 

1 See Ware's Commentary of Irish Bishops, Lond. 1705, 
p. 46. 

m Glanville, who gives this account, uses the word fa- 
ther in this place, as it is usually applied to the ancient 
ecclesiastical writers, and not in reference to any relation- 
ship between Bp. Taylor and Dr. Rust. See a letter con- 
cerning the subject and the author of a Discourse of 
Truth, by the Rev. Dr. Rust, late Lord Bishop of Dro- 
more in Ireland, Lond. 1682. 

A A 2 



35 6 



THE LIFE OF 



sermon as became this extraordinary person 
and himself ; a sermon, which in expression 
and pathos has seldom been surpassed. 

In this he entered largely into the character 
of the deceased, and shewed that the mind 
of this extraordinary man was ardent, and 
discerned every thing through colours warm, 
clear, and splendid. As a writer he was co- 
pious, energetic, and profound. Many pas- 
sages in his works are conceived with such 
aptitude, and expressed with such exactness, 
as demonstrates how quickly he caught, and 
with what accuracy he observed, the beauties 
of the creation. 

As a divine, it may justly be said of him, 
that he boldly rebuked vice, and courageously 
defended the principles of the church of 
England, though certain danger to his inte- 
rests and his person was the consequence. 
As a Christian he was devout and exemplary, 
as a parent careful and tender, as a friend 
warm and invariable, as a subject faithful and 
unshaken even in poverty and distress. He 
combined in his character qualifications but 
rarely met with in any age : for he was a man 
of lively genius but unbending principle ; of 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



large capacity, but incessant labour ; of the 
greatest attainments, but unaffected humility. 

As no man was more capable of giving a 
faithful character of Bishop Taylor than Dr. 
Rust himself, it is in vain to attempt an im- 
provement upon the record he has preserved 
of it. " The subject indeed could hardly be 
" reached by any expressions, for this prelate 
" was none of God's ordinary works ; his en- 
" dowments were so many, and so great, 
" as really made him a miracle. 

*' Nature had befriended him much in his 
" constitution ; for he was a person of a most 
u sweet and obliging humour, of great can- 
" dour and ingenuousness ; and there was so 
" much salt and fineness of wit and pret- 
" tiness of address in his familiar discourses, 
" as made his conversation have all the plea- 
" santness of a comedy, and all the usefulness 
" of a sermon : his soul was made up of har- 
M mony, and he never spake but he charmed 
" his hearer, not only with the clearness 
" of his reason, but all his words, and his 
" very tone, and cadences were unusually 
" musical. 



358 



THE LIFE OF 



" But that which most of all captivated 
" and ravished his hearers was the gaiety and 
44 richness of his fancy ; for he had much in 
" him of that natural enthusiasm that inspires 
" all great poets and orators ; and there was 
" a generous ferment in his blood and spirits, 
" that forcibly excited his imagination and 
" raised it to such a degree of luxuriancy, as 
" nothing but the greatness of his wit and 
"judgment could have kept within due 
44 bounds. 

" And indeed it was a rare mixture, and 
44 a single instance, hardly to be found in an 
44 age ; for the great tryer of wits has told us, 
" that there is a peculiar and several com- 
44 plexion, required for wit* and judgment, 
" and fancy ; and yet you might have found 
44 all these in this great personage, in their 
44 eminence and perfection. But that which 
44 made his wit and judgment so considerable, 
44 was the largeness and freedom of his spirit, 
44 for truth is plain and easy to a mind disen- 
44 tangled from superstition and prejudice ; 
44 he was one of the, 'ExXsxIiko), a sort of bold 
41 philosophers that Laertius speaks of, that 
u did not addict themselves to any particular 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



359 



" sect, but ingeniously sought for truth among 
" all the wrangling schools ; and they found 
" her miserably torn and rent to pieces, and 
" parcelled into rags, by the several con- 
" tending parties, and so disfigured and 
" misshapened, that it was hard to know her ; 
" but they made a shift to gather up her scat- 
" tered limbs, which as soon as they came 
" together, by a strange sympathy and con- 
" naturalness, presently united into a lovely 
" and beautiful body. This was the spirit of 
" this great man ; he weighed men's reasons, 
" and not their names, and was not scared 
" with the ugly visors men usually put upon 
" persons they hate, and opinions they dis- 
" like ; not affrighted with the anathemas and 
" execrations of an infallible chair, which he 
" looked upon only as bug-bears to terrify 
" weak and childish minds. He considered 
" that it is not likely any one party should 
" wholly engross truth to themselves ; that 
" obedience is the only way to true know- 
" ledge ; (an argument that he has managed 
" rarely well, in that excellent sermon of his, 
" which he calls, 4 Via Intelligentia, 9 ) that 
" God always, and only teaches docible and 
** ingenuous minds, that are willing to hear, 
" and ready to obey according to their light ; 
A a 4 



3 6° 



THE LIFE OF 



" that it is impossible, a pure, humble, re- 
" signed, god-like soul, should be kept out 
" of heaven, whatever mistakes it might be 
" subject to in this state of mortality ; that 
" the design of heaven is not to fill men's 
" heads, and feed their curiosities, but to 
" better their hearts, and mend their lives. 
" Such considerations as these, made him 
" impartial in his disquisitions, and give a 
"due allowance to the reasons of his adver- 
" sary, and contend for truth, and not for 
" victory. 

" An ordinary diligence would be able to 
" make great improvement upon such a stock 
" of parts and endowments ; but to these ad- 
" vantages of nature, and excellence of his 
" spirit, he added an indefatigable industry, 
" and God gave a plentiful benediction : for 
" there were very few kinds of learning, but 
" he was a Mystes, and a great master in 
" them : he was an excellent humanist, and 
" highly versed in all the polite parts of 
" learning ; and had thoroughly digested all 
" the ancient moralists, Greek and Roman, 
" poets and orators ; and was not unacquainted 
(< with the refined wits of the later ages, whe- 

ther French or Italian. 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



361 



" He had not only the accomplishments of 
« a gentleman, but so universal were his 
" parts, that they were proportioned to every 
" thing ; and though his spirit and humour 
" were made up of smoothness and gentle- 
" ness, yet he could bear with the harshness 
" and roughness of the schools ; and was not 
" unseen in their subtilties and spinosities, 
" and upon occasion could make them serve 
" his purpose ; yet, I believe, he thought 
" many of them very near akin to the famous 
" knight of La Mancha, and would make 
" sport sometimes with the romantic so- 
" phistry, and fantastic adventures of school- 
" errantry. His skill was great, both in the 
" civil and canon law, and casuistical di- 
" vinity ; and he was an admirable conductor 
" of souls, and knew how to counsel and to 
" advise ; to solve difficulties, determine cases, 
• and quiet consciences. He was no novice 
" in Mr. Sergeant's science of controversy ; 
" but could manage an argument, and re- 
" partees with wonderful dexterity ; he un- 
" derstood what the several parties in Chris- 
" tendom have to say for themselves, and 
" could plead their cause to better advantage 
" than any advocate of their tribe : and when 
" he had done he could confute them too ; 
10 



362 



THE LIFE OF 



" and shew, that better arguments than ever 
" they could produce for themselves, would 
*l afford no sufficient ground for their fond 
" opinions. 

M It would fee too great a task to pursue 
" his accomplishments through the various 
" kinds of literature : I shall content myself 
# f to add only his great acquaintance with 
M the fathers and ecclesiastical writers, and 
" the doctors of the first and purest ages 
** both of the Greek and Latin church ; 
46 which he has made use of against the 
" Romanists, to vindicate the church of 
" England from the challenge of innovation, 
" and prove her to be truly ancient, catho- 
" lie, and apostolical. 

m But religion and virtue is the crown of 
" all other accomplishments ; and it was the 
" glory of this great man, to be thought a 
" Christian, and whatever you added to it, he 
" looked upon as a term of diminution : and 
" yet he was a zealous son of the church of 
" England ; but that was because he judged 
" her (and with great reason) a church the 
" most purely Christian of any in the world. 
" In his younger years he met with some as- 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



363 



" saults from Popery ; and the high preten- 
" sions of their Religious Orders were very 
" accommodate to his devotional temper : but 
" he was always so much master of himself, 
" that he would never be governed by any thing 
" but reason, and the evidence of truth, which 
" engaged him in the study of those contro- 
" versies, and to how good a purpose the 
" world is a sufficient witness. The longer, 
" and the more he considered, the worse he 
" liked the Roman cause, and became at last 
" to censure them with some severity. 

" But Religion is not a matter of theory 
" and orthodox notions ; and it is not 
" enough to believe aright, but we must prac- 
" tise accordingly ; and to master our pas- 
" sions, to make a right use of that aoTsf«Viov, 
" and power that God has given us over our 
" own actions, is a greater glory than all other 
" accomplishments that can adorn the mind 
" of man : and therefore, I shall close my 
" character of this great personage, by touch- 
" ing upon some of those virtues, for which 
" his memory will be precious to all posterity. 

" He was a person of great humility ; and not- 
" withstanding his stupendous parts, learning, 



3 6 4 



THE LIFE OF 



" and eminence of place, he had nothing in 
" him of pride and humour, but was courteous, 
" affable, and of easy access, and would lend 
" a ready ear to the complaints, even to the 
" impertinencies, of the meanest people. His 
f* humility was coupled with extraordinary 
" piety ; and, I believe, he spent the greatest 
" part of his time in heaven ; his solemn 
" hours of prayer took up a considerable por- 
" tion of his life ; and we are not to doubt, 
" but he had learned of St. Paul to pray con- 
11 tinually ; and that occasional ejaculations, 
" and frequent aspirations, and emigrations 
" of his soul after God, made up the best part 
ft of his devotions. But he was not only a 
" good man in his duty to God, he was also 
" come to the top of St. Peter's gradation, 
" and to all his other virtues added a large 
" and diffusive charity : and whoever com- 
ff pares his plentiful income, with the incon- 
" siderable estate he left at his death", will 
N be easily convinced that charity was stew- 
M ard for a great proportion of his revenue. 
" But the hungry that he fed, the naked that 

n Ware says that he was so very charitable, that, saving 
to his three daughters their moderate portions, be distri- 
buted all the rest to the poor. Catal. of Irish Prelates, 
p. 46. 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



3 6 5 



" he cloathed, the distressed that he supplied, 
" and the fatherless that he provided for ; the 
" poor children that he put to apprentice, 
" brought up at school, and maintained at 
" the university, could not fail to proclaim 
" that charity which he dispersed with his 
" right hand, but of which he would not suf- 
" fer his left hand to have knowledge. 

* To sum up all, this great prelate had the 
" good humour of a gentleman, the eloquence 
" of an orator, the fancy of a poet, the acute- 
" ness of a schoolman, the profoundness of a 
" philosopher, the wisdom of a counsellor, the 
" sagacity of a prophet, the reason of an 
" angel, and the piety of a saint : he had 
" devotion enough for a cloister, learning 
" enough for an university, and wit enough for 
" a college of virtuosi ; and, had his parts 
" and endowments been parcelled out amongst 
" his clergy that he left behind him, it would 
" perhaps have made one of the best dioceses 
" in the world. But alas ! * Our Father ! our 
" * Father ! the Horses of our Israel, and the 
" « Chariot thereof he is gone, and has car- 
" ried his mantle and his spirit along with him 
" up to heaven ; and the sons of the prophets 
" have lost all their beauty and lustre which 



3 66 



THE LIFE OF 



" they enjoyed only from the reflexion of his 
" excellencies, which were bright and radiant 
" enough to cast a glory upon a whole order 
" of men. But the sun of x this our world, 
" after many attempts to break through the 
" crust of an earthly body, is at last swallowed 
" up in the great vortex of eternity, and 
" there all his maculae are scattered and dis- 
" solved, and he is fixed in an orb of glory, 
" and shines among his brethren stars, that in 
" their several ages gave light to the world, 
" and turned many souls unto righteousness ; 
" and we that are left behind, though we can 
" never reach his perfections, must study to 
ff imitate his virtues, that we may at last 
" come to sit at his feet in the mansions 
« of glory." 

• Rust's Serm. at Bp. Taylor's Funeral. 

In the same vault with Bishop Taylor were after- 
wards interred the remains of Bishops Rust, Digby, 
and Wiseman. And though it be improbable that so 
distinguished and good a man would be allowed to 
lie unnoticed, without an inscription to mark the place 
of his burial, yet it is certain that at present no me- 
morial of that kind exists. On the death of Taylor the 
Bishopric of Dromore was conferred upon Dr. Rust, 
but he lived only three years after his consecration: 
being (like his friend) attacked by a fever, of which 
he died in December 1670, in the prime of life, to the 
unspeakable grief of all that knew his worth, and especi- 
ally of such of them as bad been " blest by his friendship, 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



3 6 7 



Ware bears a similar testimony to the cha- 
racter of this great man, and records that the 
8th of September following his decease, his 
funeral obsequies were performed with great 
solemnity in the University of Dublin. 

In the very small memorials of the Bishop's 
family that have descended to the present 
day, there is no allusion to his wife : and it is 
not ascertained whether she did or did not 
survive her husband. But it is well known 
that he left three daughters, Phcebe, Joanna, 
and Mary. 

The eldest of these died single. The se- 
cond married Mr. Harrison, a Barrister in 
Ireland. And the youngest became the wife 
of Dr. Francis Marsh ; successively Dean of 



** and most sweet and endearing conversation." He was 
buried in the choir of his own Cathedral Church of Dro- 
more, in a vault made for his predecessor Bishop Taylor, 
He was author of a Discourse of Truth, published by 
James Collins, from a corrected copy belonging to Jos. 
Glanvill in 1682, twelve years after the author's death. 
He also wrote the following Discourses. On 2 Tim. i. 
jo. 4to. 1663. Dublin. Funeral, 1 John iii. 2, 4to. 1668. 
Funeral of Bp. Taylor, 1 Pet. iii. 15. 4 to. 1683. Use of 
Reason in Religion. Sion, Rom.iv. 16. 4to. 1686. Remains, 
1 John, iv. 1 6. God is Love, p. 1. Pro v. xx. 27. John 
xviii. 38. pp. 21 and 43. Remains, Camb. 4U). 1686. 



3^8 



THE LIFE OF 



Connor and Armagh, Bishop of Limerick and 
Kilmore, and at last Archbishop of Dublin : 
by whom she had a son, afterwards Dean of 
Down ; who was the grandfather of Francis 
and Jeremy Marsh, Esquires. 

Mr. Francis Marsh was brought up to the 
Irish Bar ; and, through his ancestors, became 
possessed of a gold watch, said to have been a 
present to Dr. Taylor, from King Charles the 
First. It has been described as being plain, 
and having only a single case, with a gold 
dial-plate ; the figures of which are raised. 
The hands are of steel, and the maker's name 
is " Jacobis Markwick, Londini." Originally 
it had no chain, but went by means of catgut. 
Bishop Taylor caused a second case of copper 
to be made for it, covered with green velvet 
and studded with gold. At the bottom the 
studs are so arranged as to' represent a mitre, 
surrounded by this motto, "Nescitis horam" 9 

P See Antholog. Hybernic. for Nov.* 1793, P* 353* 
This is introduced in this place under the authority of 
a MS. in the possession of the late Bishop Percy, and sent 
to him by Mr. Digby, whose relation, John Digby, Esq. 
married Mary, the daughter of Dr. Marsh, Dean of Down. 
It is confirmed by a letter from Mr. Marsh to the author, 
containing an impression of Taylor's armorial bearings 
from a steel seal appendant to the watch chain. 

Dr. Francis Marsh, father of the Dean of Down, and 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



An original picture of Bishop Taylor, by- 
one of the best masters of the time, came, 
through the same channel, into the possession 
of Mr. Jeremy Marsh, the latter of the two 
grandsons of the Dean of Down. 

Bishop Taylor in person appears to have 
been above the middle size, his countenance 
oval, and well proportioned, his forehead 
open, his eyes full and penetrating, yet 
tempered with mildness, his eyebrows falling, 
his nose prominent, and inclining to aquiline, 
his lips thin, and his chin small and round. In 
his youth such was the gracefulness of his ap- 
pearance as to contribute much to the effect 
of his eloquence." 1 



son-in-law of Bp. Taylor, was born in Gloucestershire, 
23 d of Oct. 1627. He was first of Emanuel College, and af- 
terwards of Caius College in Cambridge, where he became 
a Senior Fellow. He was made Dean of Connor Nov. 28, 
1 660, and thence, in the year following, by patent of the 
27th of June, 1 661, made Dean of Armagh, where he 
continued till he was elected Bishop of Limerick, Ardfert, 
and Aghadoe, 28th Oct. 1667. He was consecrated at 
Clonmell, 2 2d Dec. 1667. Thence translated to Kilmore 
and Ardagh ; and still further advanced to the Archbishop- 
rick of Dublin, 14th Feb. 1681. See Ware's Commen- 
tary of Irish Bishops, p. 2 1 . 

q Grainger says of him, (English Heads, vol. ii. p. 176.) 
w This excellent prelate was not only one of the greatest 
*< divines that flourished in the seventeenth century, but 

B B 



37° 



THE LIFE OF 



The engravings of this great man are nu* 
merous. That in the Polemical Discourses, 
or So/*j3oXoy HQtxo xoXe/^xov, in the edition of 1657, 
is the best : and represents him as already 
described, in his gown and scarf, with a coif 
on his head, from beneath which his hair curls 
backward. The collar of his shirt falls towards 
his shoulders, and in his right hand he holds a 
book. This print is also placed before his 
sermons, and was engraved by P. Lombart. 
Beneath is his shield of arms, which is ermine y 
on a chief dancette, sable, three escalop shells, 
argent. Above this is his crest, a demy-lion 
rampant of the first, holding a ducal coronet 
in his left paw, Or. — The shield is placed in 
the midst of these words : " Nonmagna loqui- 
*' mur. Sed vivimus. Nihil opinionis gratia, 
" Omnia Conscientiae faciam." r 

An engraving of this prelate is prefixed to 
the " Contemplations on the State of Man." 



u was also one of the completest characters of his age. 
" His person was uncommonly beautiful, his manners 
"polite, his conversation sprightly and engaging, and 
" even his voice was harmonious." 

r The same engraving is prefixed to the Great Exemplar, 
Ey;avTos and Ductor Dubitantium. The print before 
* The Measures and Offices of Friendship," izmo. has the 
same motto. 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



This is the only print in which he is repre* 
sented in his rochette, chimere, lawn sleeves 
and scarf. It is a half-length ; engraved 
by R.W. 

In his " Holy Living," he is drawn stand- 
ing on a pedestal, in the gown of a master of 
arts, cassock, and scarf; and in other respects 
as already described. His right hand is pen- 
dant, and holds an open book : his left hand 
is extended and points to heaven ; where oar 
Saviour is placed in glory ; in his right hand 
a crown, and in his left a crosier and pennon. 
Beneath is the mouth of hell, from which the 
figure of the devil appears, extending his arm 
to him, and holding out a bag of gold. The 
pedestal on which he stands is inscribed, 
" Mercarius Christianus f* and, on a beam of 
light emanating from the heavens are these 
words, " ad te quacunq 3 vocas dulcissime Jesu." 
The broad path to the infernal regions is also 
represented beset with flowers, on which -is 
written, " Who can dwell with the everlasting 
" burnings ?" Isai. xxxiii. 14. 

In the " Holy Dying" he is delineated m 
the same attitude, pointing out to old age ? 
beauty in her prime, and infancy, tlie figure 
B b 2 



37 2 



THE LIFE OF 



of a skeleton reflected from a mirror, into 
which they all are looking. Beneath the mir- 
ror is inscribed, " Fades nativitatis suae" 
There is some variation in his appearance in 
the later impressions from that which is given 
in the first edition. There he is described 
with a thin countenance and a high crowned 
hat on his head. 

In the twenty-seventh edition of the 
" Golden Grove," which was published in 
duodecimo, in London, 1735, he is repre- 
sented in the frontispiece with a book in his 
right hand, and his left pointing to a coffin. 
Out of his lips issues a label inscribed " This 
" is the period of all human glory." 

In the " Unum Necessarium," he is dis- 
tinguished by a tuft of hair beneath his under 
lip. In none of these is the engraver's name 
mentioned^ 

The last print of him that w T as taken, is pre- 
fixed to Mr. Wheel don's selections from his 
works, called, " The Life of Bishop Taylor, 
" and the purest spirit of his Writings, ex- 
" tracted and exhibited." It is a copy of what 
had gone before, and is unworthy of so great 
a man. 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



373 



The life, character, and person of this dis- 
tinguished prelate, being thus developed, and 
his writings recorded in the order of their 
publication, it remains, that a succinct com- 
parison be drawn between those lines which 
distinguish the style of his productions from 
those of his contemporaries. 

Milton may be first selected ; as coming 
nearest to him in many particulars. Born 
4vithin five years of each other, and educated 
in the same university, they launched forth 
into life at a period the most eventful that 
England ever witnessed ; when two powerful 
parties were drawing towards an open rup- 
ture, each supported by abilities that have 
rarely appeared in any age. 

The minds of both Taylor and s Milton 
r « had a large grasp their spirits were 
firm, courageous, and ardent ; their under- 
standings intensely fixed upon religion. In 
the hour of contention two such characters 
could not be indifferent spectators. The one 

5 It is reported that Milton was a great admirer of Tay- 
lor, and studied his works. There are not wanting some 
persons who believe that the poet borrowed many of his 
ideas and expressions from him. 

B B 3 



374 



THE LIFE OF 



plunged into the tide of boundless liberty ; 
the other espoused the cause of violated pre- 
rogative. Zeal prompted the hand of both ; 
which gave an elevated tone to every chord 
they struck ; whether in the cause of religion 
01 politics. 

Milton embellishes his style often when 
least expected. If he be writing on the rules 
of education, he breaks from the sober and 
deliberate march of the philosophical en- 
quirer; detains the mind no longer in the 
demonstration of that part of the subject, 
which he is discussing ; but says, " I will 
" straight conduct you to a hill side, where I 
" will point ye out the right path of a virtuous 
u and noble education ; laborious indeed at 
the first ascent, but else so smooth, so 
green, so full of goodly prospect, and me- 
" lodious sounds on every side, that the harp 
w of Orpheus was not more charming."' 

The well known passage in his treatise " Of 
" Church Government," in which he speaks 
of the great poetical work which he had in 
view, affords an instance of his elevation of 



« Of Education, p. 376. 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



375 



thought and vigour of expression. It was a 
performance " not to be raised from the heat 
" of youth, or the vapours of wine, like that 
" which flows at waste from the pen of some 
" vulgar amourist, or the trencher fury of a 
" rhyming parasite ; nor to be obtained by the 
w invocation of dame memory and her siren 
" daughters ; but by devout prayer to that 
" eternal spirit, who can enrich with all ut- 
u terance and knowledge, and sends out his 
" Seraphim with the hallowed fire of his 
" altar to touch and purify the lips of whom 
" he pleases ; to this must be added indus- 
" trious and select reading, steady observa- 
" tion, insight into all seemly and generous 
" arts and affairs; till which, in some measure, 
M be compassed at mine own peril and cost I 
u refuse not to sustain the expectation 6 of 
" such a work' from as many as are not loth 
" to hazard so much credulity upon the best 
" pledges that I can give them. Although 
" it nothing content me to have disclosed 
" thus much before hand ; but that I trust 
" hereby to make it manifest with what small 
" willingness I endure to interrupt the pursuit 
" of no less hopes than these, and leave a calm 
" and pleasing solitariness, fed with cheerful 
" and confident thoughts, to embark in a 
b b 4 



i7 & 



THE LIFE OF 



" troubled sea of noise and hoarse disputes; 
" put from beholding the bright countenance 
" of truth, in the quiet and still air of delight- 
" ful studies. 5 ' 

In these and other passages that might be 
cited from the prose of Milton, we perceive 
that we are conversing with a person of a 
high and majestic order ; whose energy may 
be thought to equal, but not surpass that of 
Taylor. In intellectual opulence, in bright- 
ness of fancy, in richness and fluency of ex- 
pression, the balance is so nearly even that 
we hesitate to pronounce which side pre- 
ponderates* 

The following quotation from the works 
of Bishop Hall, another contemporary with 
this illustrious divine, so strongly reminds us 
of the style of Taylor, that the reader at first 
sight might be deceived. " God is the God 
" of order, not of confusion. As therefore, 
" in natural things, he useth to proceed from 
" one extreme to another by degrees, through 
" the mean : so doth he in spiritual. The 
" sun riseth not at once to his highest, from 
** the darkness of midnight ; but first sends 
" forth some feeble glimmering of light m 



JEREMY TAYLOR* 



377 



"the dawning; then looks out with weak 
" and waterish beams ; and so by degrees 
" ascends to the midst of heaven. So in the 
" seasons of the year, we are not one day 
" scorched with a summer heat ; and on the 
" next, frozen with a sudden extremity of 
" cold. But winter comes on softly ; first, 
" by cold dews, then hoar frosts ; until at 
" last it descend to the hardest weather of 
" all ; such are God's spiritual proceedings : 
" He never brings any man from the estate 
" of sin, to the estate of glory, but through 
" the estate of grace." u 

" The recreations of a Christian," (for even 
these human frailty will sometimes call for) •/ 
" are such as may be meet relaxations to a 
" mind overbent, and a body tired with ho- 
" nest and holy employments ; safe, inoffen- 
" sive, and for time and measure fitly pro- 
" portioned to the occasion ; like unto soft 
" music betwixt two long and stirring acts ; 
" like unto some quick and savory sauce to a 
" listless and cloyed stomach ; like unto a 
" sweet nap after an over- watching. He is 
" far from those delights that may effeminate, 

u Meditations and Vows, p. 29, 



37§ 



THE LIFE OF 



" or corrupt the mind ; abhorring to sit by 
" those pleasures, from which he shall not 
* rise better." * 

The style of Hall is more racy and sen- 
tentious than elevated and flowing ; and he 
impresses the mind by an air slow and ma- 
jestic, on occasions when Taylor would sur- 
prise by his brightness and captivate by his 
energy. The unadorned periods of Sanderson 
and Hammond, of Hale and Chillingworth, 
of Farringdon, Bramhall, or Etonian Hales, 
bear so slight a resemblance to the style of 
Taylor, that no comparison can be formed 
between them. But the copiousness of Bar- 
row justly demands a place by the side of this 
distinguished writer. The stream which he 
pours from the fountains of salvation, clear as 
it is deep, and strong as it is full, descends 
upon us with irresistible energy. We are too 
much occupied by the force of moral wisdom 
that every where prevails, to require the em- 
bellishments of fancy : but the flow of divine 
truth proceeding from Taylor is as exuberant 
as that of Barrow, but not so equable. In 
; the flexures of its course at one time it charms 

T The Christian, p. 241, nmo, Locd. 1647, 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 



379 



by its richness, and at another awes by its 
rapidity. 

The style of Taylor not on]y convinces the 
mind by a clearness of method and force of 
expression, but it elevates the spirit by the 
warmest piety and fills it by the profoundest 
reverence. 

English prose was in his time in a progres- 
sive state. It had been advanced very far by 
the genius of Sidney and the wisdom of 
Hooker; but the pedantry of the reign of 
James had done much to eclipse its lustre* 
In Taylor it broke out from its obscurity with 
encreased energy and brightness. His po- 
lemical discourses exhibit a specimen of 
English composition superior to any that had 
gone before. 

As a preacher, though too diffuse for mo- 
dern hearers, yet was he the admiration w of 

w It would be unpardonable were I to omit the testi- 
mony of affection to the memory of Bp. Taylor, given by 
one of the most distinguished literary characters of the 
present age ; who, in speaking of Hooker, Barrow, and the 
Bishop of Down and Connor says, \y& l\ 'Qxulot p\v <reCw, 
SaujuaJaJs Ba^cv, k«* $»a£ Ta/A&^oy. See note to Dr. Parr's 
Spital Sermon. 



3 8o 



THE LIFE OF 



his contemporaries. By the strength or de- 
licacy of his touch he kept the attention 
awake ; and the natural gracefulness of his 
person added also something of its own beauty 
to the fervour and richness of his discourse. 
He impressed his audience with such com- 
manding superiority, that he seemed like the 
messenger x of a purer clime. 

It has been well observed by an anonymous 
author that 7 " in writing on subjects strictly 
" moral, Taylor is seen to fullest advantage. 
" It is in these as in his native element, that 
" he soars far above his fellows. Taylor's 
" genius is not that alone which supports him 
" here. Love of the supreme good is the 
" wing on which he rises, and his bright 
" talents are but the decoration of that wing — 



By some writers Taylor is denominated c< the Homer," 
and by others c< the Shakespear of Divines." See Grang- 
er's English Heads and Mr. Thirlwall's preface to " the 
" Rule and Exercises of Holy Living." 

x Bp. Rust, speaking of Taylor at an early age, says, 
" he preached to the admiration and astonishment of his 
( 1 auditory ; and by his florid and youthful beauty, and 
" sweet and pleasant air, and sublime and raised dis- 
«' courses, he made his hearers take him for some young 
li angel, newly descended from the visions of glory." 

y Review of Taylor's Sermons, Eel. 



JEREMY TAYLOR. 38 1 

<c like the feathered gold with which Milton 
** beautifies his Raphael. As Taylor's thought 
" expands, he, as it were, leaves this earth 
" and sings as he soars. He rejoices in his 
" flight ; and he makes us partake of his joy. 
"It is a human seraph which moves before 
" us, and gives us the living semblance of 
" what is most truly great and noble, and 
" pure and beatific." 



APPENDIX. 



The following is copied from a MS. entitled " Annales 
Collegii de Gonvile et Caius," preserved in the 
Archives of the Society of Caius College, Cambridge ; 
But as the statement of facts in this Extract is in~ 
accurate, the Author did not deem it proper to insert 
it in the body of the Work, 

" TLTOC anno" (forsan 1635) " i° Februarii Je-= 
" remias Taylor Cantabrigiae natus Artium 

|j Mag r et hujus Collegii Socius ex fundatione Per- 
** siana, sponte resignavit jus suum omne ad dictum 
" sodalitium. Huic erat summum ingenii acumen, 
" quod industria non vulgari instruxit, et polivit 
" adeo ut supra aet litem sapuit, et magnis in Ecclesia 
<J muneribus subeundis par erat. Anno enim uno aut 
6i altero a gradu Magisterii suscepto, ad fungendum 
" concionatoris sive prselectoris munere in Ecclesia 
" Cathedrali D vi Pauli Londini vocatus est per eos 
" quorum fidei iilius Prselecturse (a Colleto institutag) 
" cura commissa erat; quod quidem officium non 
" nisi viris setate maturis, et eruditione eminenti- 
" oribus mandari solitum erat; Taylerus vero hie 
" noster talem hie se pra3stitit virum ut admirationem 
" sui apud auditores doctissimos quamvis, excitavit, 
" hinc fama ilium undiquaque celebrante, ad no- 
" titiam Reverendissimi Archipraesulis Cantuariensis 

3 



3^4 



APPENDIX. 



" Gu: Laud pervenit, qui viri merita non minorr 
" fama deprehendens, suum esse voluit ac protinus 
€t eum a Collegio nostro amotum ; socium Collegio 
" D vi Johannis Oxonii eligi curavit, ubi inter viros 
** claros constitutus famae detrimentum nunquam 
" passus, sed Doctoratus in S. S. Theologian gradu 
K insignitus splenduit magis. Is uxore ducta ad 
u Reetoriam de Uppingham in Comitatu Rutlandiae 
%i promotus est, ubi vigilantissimi Pastoris munere 
(i functus est, quamdiu tumultus militares non ob- 
" streperent, sed civili flagrante bello Taylerus tan- 
fi< dem in Walliam compulsus est, ubi ut poterat 
" habuit non tamen Ecclesias inutilis vixit sed libris 
u editis Episcopatum strenue asseruit, Orthodoxae 
" fidei patronum se praebuit et ad pietatem aspirantes 
" turn scriptis turn exemplo (ut ndi Pastoris est) 
" praeivit, libros ab eo scriptos non facile est re- 
" censer e plures tamen quos vir pius et doctus me- 
" ditatus, speramus lucem visuros ad Ecclesiae com- 
" modum et Dei gloriam." 

To this is added, in a different hand, " Multa 
(i quas de Taylero nostro hie referuntur in se- 
" quentibus annis gesta sunt, sed hie simul con- 
" gessimus, et dignissimi viri Elegiam melius uno 
" intuitu spectandum proponatur." 



INDEX. 



ACEPHALI, 21. 
Aerians, 21. 
Aeriomastix, 21. 
All -Souls College, 7. 
Annus Mirabilis, iqo. 
Ashburnham, Mr. John, 34. 
Ashton, Sir Thomas, 21. 

B. 

Bachcroft, Mr. 3, 4. 
Bacon, 4. 

Baker, Thomas, ix. 
Baltinglas, 314. 
Baptism, A Discourse of, 176. 
Barer oft, Richard, 287. 
Barlow, Mr. Thomas, 241. 
Barrow, 378. 

Beatitutes, Discourse of, 354. 
Beauty, on Auxiliary, 255. 
Boyle, Bishop, 308. 
Bramhall, Archbishop, 307. 333. 
Bridgewater, Earl of, 70. 
Butler, 312. 

a 



23 



JNDEX, 



c. 

Calcutta, Bishop of, viii. 

Carbery, Earl of, 52. 56. 85. 312. 

, Countess of, 67. 70. 85. Serm. at Funeral 

of, 86. 

, Alice, 70. 

Catechism, 221. 

Chepst6w Castle, 240. 252. 

Christians' Conquest, Sermon on, 328. 

Xgi<n$ TsketcoT%Y), 329. 

Christ's College, 325. 

Christ's yoke an easy yoke, Sermon on, 72. 

Churchman, Theophilus, 21. 

Churton, Archdeacon, xi. 

Clapham, Samuel, 80. 

Clergy, Rules and Advices to, 324. 

Confirmation, Discourse of, 329. 

Consecration, Sermon at his, 310. 

Contemplations on the State of Man, 349, 

Conway, Lord, 273. 

Cowley, 263. 

Cromwell, 56. 289. 

D. 

Dalston, Sermon at the Funeral of Sir George, 205. 
Dee, Bishop, 13. 
Aexa$ e/x/3oAi/xaTof, 183. 
Deus Justificatus, 242. 
Digby, Bishop, 366. 



INDEX. 



Directory, A, 37. 
Down, Bishopric of, 296. 
Drogheda, Church of, 335. 
Dromore, 323. 355. 
Dryden, 100. 

Ductor Dubitantium, 73. 275. 287, 
Dugdale, 25. 

E. 

Edgehili, 29. 

England, Church of, 223. 236, 
£v<«uro?, 54. 85. iSu 185. 
Ephesian Matron, 274. 
Episcopacy asserted, 20. 
Eustace, Sir Maurice, 314.. 
Eustathius, Bishop, 21. 
Exemplar, the Great, 67. 

R 

Fides formata, 328. 
Fifth of November, Sermon on, to. 
Friendship, Discourse of, 258* 
Fuller, Bishop, 44. 

G. 

Gate of Heaven a straight gate, Sermon on, 74* 
Gaule, John, 243. 
Glanvil, Joseph, 326. 
Golden Grove, 52. 175. 
Gonvil and Caius College, 3, 



INDEX. 



Grammar, a new and easy Institution of, 44. 

Gregory, F. 51. 

Grey, Dr. 121. 

Grove, the Golden, 221. 

Guide to infant Devotion, 221. 

— the Penitent, 222. 

H. 

Hall, Bishop, 20. 308. 376. 

Hammond, Dr. 32. 

Harrison, Mr. 367. 

Halton, Sir Charles, 25. 46. 313. . 

Hausted, Peter, 13. 

Heylin, 20. 

Holy Living, 80. 

Holy Dying, 93. 

Hudibras, 121. 

Hudson, Dr. 34. 

Hymns, Festival, 230. 

Heresy 61. So. 

I. 

Jeanes, Henry, 243. 

Irish, Superstition of the, 345. 

Juxon, Bishop, 13. 

K. 

Kennet, Bishop, ix. 
Kildare, Earl of, 314. 
Killigrew, Mrs. Ann. 100. 
Kirby, 25. 



INDEX. 



L. 

Landisdale, Phoebe, 14. 
Langsdale, Dr. 15. 
Laud, Archbishop, 7, 8. 12. 20. 
Lawes, Henry, 71. 

Leslie, Letter from Taylor to Bishop, 306. 
Lesly, Bishop, 295. 308. 

Letters to two Persons changed in their Religion, 272. 

Lichfield, Leonard, 22. 

Lisburn, 313. 355. 

Lisnegarvy, 323. 

Liturgy, Apology for, 38. 

Llanfihangel, 51. 85. 

Lloyd, Griffin, 175. 

M. 

Margetson, Bishop, 307. 

Marsh, Dr. Francis, 367. Francis and Jeremy, 368. 

Martin, Edward, 12, 13. 

Maxwell, Bishop, 309. 

Milton, 333. 373. 

Ministerial Office, Discourse of, 104. 

Monk, General, 291. 

Montague, Basil, x. 

Montgomery, Viscount, 314. 

Montrath, Lord, 314. 

N. 

Naseby, 33. 

Newdigate, Sir Richard, 44. 



vi 



INDEX. 



Nicholson, Rev. Ralph, x. 
Nobility, Declaration of the, 292. 
Northampton, Countess of, 70. 
Nottingham, Daniel, Earl of, 46. 28. 

O. 

Opuscula, Taylor's, 288. 
Orange, Mary, Princess of, 296. 
Orinda, 71. 

Ormond, Duke of, 328. 

, Duchess of, 328. 

Orrery, Earl of, 314. 
Oxford, 28. 

R 

Parker, Bishop, 308. 

Parliament, Sermon at opening of, 314. 

Parr, Dr. 379. 

Penitent, Guide to the, 222. 

Perse, Dr. Stephen, 3. 

Petronius, 98. 

Philips, Mrs. Katherine, 71. 259. 

Popery, Dissuasive from, 340. 

Portmore, 274. 291. 

Prayer, Discourse concerning, 38. 

Price, Bishop, 308. 

Prideaux, Bishop, 32. 

Primate, Sermon at the Funeral of the, 

Prophecying, Liberty of, 57. 

Psalter, 42. 

Pullen, Bishop, 307. 



INDEX. 



vii 



R. 

Real Presence, Treatise on the, 214. 

Righteousness, Evangelical, Sermon on, 327. 

Risden, Mr. 7. 

Rival Friends, 13. 

Royston, R. 240. 

Rumbould, Mr. 15. 

Rust, Dr. George, ix. 325. 355. 366. 

S. 

Sancta Clara, Francis a, 9. 
Sanderson, Bishop, 241. 
Satire against Separatists, 14. 
Sedgwick, William, 26. 
Senile Odium, 13. 
Sergeant, John, 349. 

Sermons, Observations on Hearing, 109. 
On the Spirit of Grace, 1 24. 
Curse cut ofi^ 1 29. 
Death-bed Repentance, 135. 
Deceitfulness of the Heart, 137. 
Faith and Patience of the Saints, 138, 
Mercy of the Divine Judgments, 148, 
Growth of Grace, 151. 
Growth of Sin, 155. 
Foolish Exchange, 160. 
Christian Prudence, 165. 
Christian Simplicity, 169. 
Divine Mercy, 171. 
The Flesh and the Spirit, 191. 
9 



viii 



INDEX. 



Sermons, Lukewarmness ^nd Zeal, 196. 

House of Feasting, 199. 

Marriage Ring, 208. 

Fruits of Sin, 313. 

Good and Evil Tongue, 213. 

Slander and Flattery, 213. 

Duties of the Tongue, 213. 
Sharp, Thomas, D. D. 247. 
Smectymnuus, 21. 
Stearn, John, 275. 
Stradling, Dr. George, 240. 
^up(3o\ov H0ixo-7roAsjaixov, 58. 65. 257. 272. 
^vpPoXov SsoKoyiKOV, 65. 273. 
Summer Half Year, Sermons for, 92. 104. 124. 
Sure footing, 349. 
Synge, Bishop, 308. 

T. 

Tabaci Hymnus, 14. 
Taylor, Jer. Birth, 2. 

Education, 3. 

Fellow of Caius College, 6. 
Preacher at St. Paul's, 7. 
Patronized by Laud, 7. 
FeUow of All-Souls, 7. 
Chaplain to Laud, 1 2. 

■ — King Charles I. 1 2. 

Rector of Uppingham, 13. 
Marries, 14. 
Made D.D. 30. 



INDEX. 



Taylor, Jer. quits Uppingham, and follows the 
King, 31. 

Retires into Wales, 34. 

Prisoner, 340. 

Removes to London, 253. 

Resides at Portmore, 274. 

Returns to London, 29 1 . 

Bishop of Down and Connor, 308. 

Privy Counsellor, 312. 
Vice Chancellor of Dublin, 313. 
Bishop of Dromore, 323. 
Rebuilds the choir of Dromore Cathe- 
dral, 323. 
Death, 355. 
Burial, 355. 
Character, 356. 
Family, 367. 
Watch, 368. 
Original picture, 369. 
Person, 369, 
Engraving of, 370. 

Writings, compared with those of other 
authors, 373. 

Johanna, 323. 

Mary, 2. 367. 

William, 18. 

Nathaniel, 2. 

Phcebe, 367, 
Qeokoyiu ExhsxTixYi, 57. 
ThirlwaD, Rev. Thomas, 96. 

b 



X 



INDEX. 



Thyer, John, 21 
Thorius, Raphael, 14. 
Toleration, Dialogue on, 66, 
Towers, Bishop, 17. 
Trinity Parish, Cambridge, 3. 

U. 

Unum Necessarium, 234. 
Uppingham, 4. 12, 13. 
Usher, 32. 

V. 

Vaughan, William, 221. 
Via Intelligentia, 320. 359. 
Visitation, Sermon at, 319. 324, 

W. 

Wales, Prince of, 30. 
Warner, Bishop, 217. 239. 
Wheeldon, Mr. x. 
Wild, Bishop, 308. 
Williams, Bishop, 309. 
Winter Half Year, Sermons for, 3 
Wiseman, Bishop, 366. 
Wood, Anthony, 11. 
Worseley, Edward, 349. 
Worth, Bishop, 308. 
Worthy Communicant, 296. 
Wyatt, William, 43. 

Y. 

York, Puke of, 30. 



A LIST 

OF 

BISHOP TAYLOR'S WORKS, 

IN THE ORDER OF THEIR PUBLICATION. 



Sermon on the Anniversary of Gunpowder Treason, 

Oxford, 1638. 

Episcopacy asserted . . . Oxford, 1642. 

Psalter or Psalms of David . Oxford, 1 644. 

A Discourse concerning Prayer Extempore or by 
pretence of the Spirit, in justification of authorised 
and set Forms of Liturgie, printed in the yere 
1 646, without mentioning the place 1 646 

A new and easie Institution of Grammar, &c. 1647. 

The Liberty of Prophecying . London, 1647. 

An Apology for Liturgy „ . London, 1649. 

The Great Exemplar . . London, 1649. 

Sermon at the Funeral of Frances Countess of 
Carbery . . London, 1650. 

OcoAoyia sxXsxtmy} . . . London, 1650. 

The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living London, 1 65 o. 

The Rule and Exercises of Holy Dying London, 1 65 1 . 

Twenty-eight Sermons . . London, 1651. 

A short Catechism . . . London, 1652. 

A Discourse of Baptism . . London, 1652- 

Two Discourses of Baptism . London, 1653. 

c c 



list of Taylor's works. 



London, 1654. 

London, 1655. 

London, 1655. 

London, 1655. 

London, 1656. 



The Real Presence 

The Golden Grove . 
Unum Necessarium 
Deus Justificatus 
An Answer to a Letter written by the Bishop of Ro- 
chester .... 1656. 
A Discourse of Artificial Handsomeness, London, 

1656. 

A Discourse of Friendship . . 1657. 
2t»^/3oAov HQixo-woXspixov . London, 1657. 

The Ductor Dubitantium . London, 1660. 
The Worthy Communicant . London, 1660. 
A Sermon at the Consecration of two Archbishops 
and ten Bishops in St. Patrick's Dublin, London, 

1661. 

Hules and Advice to the Clergy of Down and Con- 
nor London, 1661. 

A Sermon at the opening of Parliament 166 1. 

Via Intelligentiae . . . London, 1 662. 
Sermon at the Funeral of the Lord Primate 1663, 
E/38o//.«£ sjtxjSoAijttaio^ a Supplement to Evitxvrog 1663. 
A Dissuasive from Popery, London and Dublin, 1 664. 
The Second Part of a Dissuasive from Popery 1667. 
"£vfjt,@o\ov Gsohoyixov . . . J 684. 

Taylor's Opuscula. 



THE END. 



Printed by A.Sirahan, 
Printers-Street, London, 



ERRATA. 



Page viii. line 6. read, atque. — P. x. 1. 22. read, to have 
eminently qualified him. — P. xi. 1. 14. read, Britannica. — 
P.50. L 26. read, edidit. — P. 51. note, 1. 5. read, erudites ; 
line 6. read archives. — P. 86. note, 1. 19. read, ex asse. — 
P. 87. 1. 7. read, irrigua. — P. 145. 1. 1. read, assurance. — 
P. 158. 1. 19. read, intenerate. — P. 199. 1. 16. for holiness, 
read, bicsiness. — P. 200. 1. 19. read, occisurws. — P. 279. 
1. 9. read, discermble. — P. 283. 1. 19. read, ctmrisqiie. — 
P. 352. 1. 3. read, hot^w. 



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